The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Eric Lax
- First Published: 2004
- Type of Work: History of science and medicine
- Time of Work: 1881-2004
- Setting: Great Britain and the United States
- Principal Characters: Alexander Fleming, Howard Florey, Ernst Chain, Norman Heatley
- Genres: Nonfiction, History, Health and medicine
- Subjects: United States or Americans, Science or scientists, World War II, Doctors, England or English people, Medicine, Health, Scotland or Scottish people, Bacteriology, Great Britain, Research, Biology or biologists
- Locales: United States, Great Britain
Throughout the ages, war and disease have been great killers of human beings, and the story of penicillin cannot be understood without first considering these destroyers of life. Many historians of medicine have argued that the discovery and development of penicillin before and during World War II was the most important medical event of the twentieth century. The four people that Eric Lax situates at the heart of the penicillin story—Alexander Fleming, Howard Florey, Ernst Chain, and Norman Heatley—were profoundly affected by the more than ten million deaths in World War I, many of...
[The entire page is 2046 words long]
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