Kauff 1
Autumn Kauff
English 102
Evaluation Essay
August 29, 2014
The Development of Penicillin In the early twentieth century, an incidental discovery led to one of the greatest medical advancements in medicine. This accidental discovery rivals any intentional successful medical discovery in terms of lives saved. The development of penicillin is still important today as it was many years ago while science continues to alter new types and strands to battle the ever changing and newly discovered diseases of the world. "In 1928, Alexander Fleming returned from a two week vacation" and was inspecting experiments that he initiated prior to leaving (Real Story). It was during this time in history that the path to one of the greatest discoveries
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Bacteria surrounds us in everything we do, while mold is a part of natures recover process. When the mold Penicillium Notatum was introduced and allowed to grow in a bacteria laced Petri dish, a clear liquid barrier between the mold and bacteria was produced (Alexander). Having only mold and bacteria in a Petri dish was not all that was needed to produce penicillin. Other factors had to be considered such as the "proper temperature and environmental conditions" (Alexander). It took several "test trials after the first discovery to improve the procedures needed" to create the antibiotic (Alexander). This clear liquid is the substance that became known as penicillin …show more content…
When the true potential for penicillin was understood, the number and type of infections and diseases that could be treated seemed limitless. "Diseases like scarlet fever, inflammatory heart disease, diphtheria, gonorrhea and infections such as syphilis, meningitis, and pneumonia became treatable" (Does Penicillin). Perhaps the greatest use of penicillin came "during World War II when it was mass produced and given to the soldiers" (Discovery). In comparison, the "death rate from bacterial pneumonia was 18% in the First World War but dropped to less than 1% in the Second World War" (Real Story). "This was made possible by the efforts of Howard Walter Florey by traveling too the United States and convincing the government to sponsor research and production of the antibiotic" (Discovery). Penicillin can also be used as a defensive treatment in "preventing infections in wounds like burns and cuts" (Discovery). Surgeries of all types are considered safer now as the fear of contracting a life threatening infection is lessened by the use of
The Factor of War in the Development of Penicillin The discovery, development and subsequent use of penicillin can be considered to be one of the most important breakthroughs in medical history. There were many factors, which were involved in the development of penicillin, and it could be argued that war was the most important, but other factors were also responsible. Alexander Fleming was working in London as a bacteriologist in 1928 when he noticed that a growth of a mould called penicillin produced a substance that actually killed the germs he was working on. He realised that this might be very important and a year later he wrote an article about his findings. However, Fleming did not have the facilities or the support to develop and test his idea that penicillin could fight infection, and he didn't develop it further.
Today, Johnson & Johnson is a pharmaceutical giant worth $71 billion. The company is listed on NYSE as JNJ with 2.83 billion shares outstanding with the value of $92.7 per share.
Medical procedures and inventions are constantly being developed and made better. World War 1 was a time in which many of the procedures used today were first thought of and used. It was a time that inspired the doctors and nurses working today, not to mention the fact that it’s a topic that still affects everyone in the world today. Medical advancements made during World War 1 had a major impact on the world as evidenced by those advancements still in use today.
Years later other scientists were also intrigued by the possibilities of penicillin and produced enough penicillin to prove that it was a useable antibiotic. The scientists from Great Britain were developing all of this during World War II, and unfortunately funding for their drug was unavailable due to the war. They decided to bring their concepts to the United States, and once enough was made, it was eventually used, to treat wounded soldiers during World War I.
Since the dawn of man, humans have dreaded the suffering caused by injuries and disease. For our benefit, we have enhanced the practices of Medicine and its techniques, but before such ideas existed; the risk of recovery was extremely traumatic and at times fatal. We have abandoned several of the medical procedures used in ancient times since intrepid scientists and physicians sought methods. Although medicine was not always a science, instead it was magic, thus god were trusted for a few techniques more than actual logic. Therefore, the history of medicine has been disturbing and dangerous, but a good number of its practices today used in a more modern way, is quite beneficial to humanity.
18). Even though those diseases were not his goal to cure it still made penicillin revolutionary for the time being. Fleming now knew how to make penicillin and started to mass produce it. In the 1930s during the upgrading process of penicillin Fleming himself was cured of severe conjunctivitis. Then in the 1940s the fully developed penicillin was created. The creation of penicillin cured a wide variety of diseases, which led to the world excelling in growth, and penicillin improved the way of medicine at the time. The variety of diseases cured by penicillin made it a must have antibiotic. Penicillin was used to cure multiple diseases including syphilis, gonorrhea, tuberculosis, gangrene, pneumonia, diphtheria, and scarlet fever ( Common Antibiotics ). All the diseases have one thing in common, they all have the ability to spread, some faster than others. When a disease is discovered people tried to make a cure. When penicillin was made diseases that were thought to never have a cure were cured. People began to demand that penicillin be sold in local pharmacies. Penicillin was released to help people with the variety of diseases curable by
Throughout history disease has run rampant taking many lives with every passing day. Finding a cure or even just a tool in the battle has been the main focus of scientist throughout time. This focus is what brought us the discovery of antibiotics. Over the years antibiotics have been misused by patients, over prescribed by physicians and have led to resistant strains of bacteria.
A Comparison of the Laboratory and Industrial Processes When going through the process of fermentation in a laboratory they use certain methods to achieve their goals and some of the methods that they use are completely different from the ones that are used in the industry of fermentation. A fermenter is a container that maintains optimum conditions needed to grow a particular organism I will be using different criteria’s to compare the laboratory and industrial process of fermentation in this assignment; some of them are listed below: * Equipment Used * The Quantity of the Product * Method Used * Quality of the Product Before I get right on into the assignment I will firstly talk about penicillin is and what it is used for today in our society because penicillin will come up. Penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1929 and penicillin is one of the earliest discovered and widely used antibiotic agents, derived from the penecillium mold and the use of penecillium did not begin until the 1940s. Penicillin kills bacteria by interfering with the ability to synthesis the cell wall and this will disallow it from splitting and reproducing and it will only lengthen longer Below are is a table that shows the most obvious differences in fermentation in a laboratory and fermentation in the scientific industry: Laboratory Fermentation: Industry Fermentation: It is a batch culture They use a Ph sensor The Ph level is not being controlled The equipment used is more expensive The temperature is not being measured They use a thermometer The yeast population isn’t been given O² They equip the fermenter with an exit gas and an exit liquid flow The food supply is not being replenished They also equip it with a antifoam and gas flow It also has a dissolved O² sensor Equipped with an Sparser In industry they have a fresh media feed
Penicillin, derived from the mold Penicillium, is the first antibiotic to successfully treat bacterial infections on humans. It was accidentally discovered by scientist, Alexander Fleming. While Fleming was growing Staphylococcus, a serious and often deadly infection, in a dish, he noticed the bacteria had stopped growing after a mold found its way
The contributions of several doctors, researchers, and scientists helped improve the health of the growing population. In 1850 the average life expectancy was 42 years. By 1910 the average life expectancy had risen to nearly 55 years. Between 1850 and 1910 there were several advances in the medical field. The introduction of genes, white blood cells, blood groups, insulin, rubber gloves, aspirin, and vitamins and the discoveries of Pasteur, Charcot, Halsted, Zirm, Lister, and Koch were the starting point of an international fight against disease.
In this exercise, Penicillium was utilized, a common, safe, mold. Certain species of Penicillium will spoil fruits, vegetables, grains, and grasses. Other species will ripen various chesses. Still, other species are used in the production of antibiotics. The species of Penicillium, italicum is provided for the lab because of its pronounced hyphae. Penicillium italicum, along with Penicillium digitatum attack citrus fruits post-harvest. In this experiment, the effect of Penicillium italicum on two types of citrus fruits and one non-citrus fruits were tested.
...vercome, there is more of a chance to capture such great discoveries. People need to realize that if they never take the time to stop and look around, appreciate the small things in life, they might miss out on important details and or moments that the world has to offer. Scientist didn’t obtain their greatest discoveries by looking at the world with a closed mind. During the months of September through Novemeber, the leaves start to fall off the trees. It is obvious its fall, but what else is occurring? Gravity. Albert Einstein discovered gravity by watching and ordinary object fall. At that moment he became a scientific unscrupulous observer.
Discovery and Development of Penicillin. (2014, April 4). Retrieved from American Chemical Society International Historic Chemical Landmarks: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/flemingpenicillin.html
Alexander Fleming started the history of antibiotics in the 1920's with his discovery of penicillin.When penicillin was first discovered and used widely, it was touted as a wonder drug, and consequently was used as one.Though not necessarily harmful to the patient penicillin was used for much more infections than it was able to combat.Today the same practice is observed in the medical profession, however at this point it is due more to the detriment of an uneducated public.Studies have been carried out that show the huge over usage of antibiotics.In the seventies Soyka et al, concluded, "60% of physicians surveyed gave antibiotics for the treatment of the common cold."[3], and by common knowledge the common cold is a virus, something that cannot be treated by an antibiotic.Nyquist
The discovery of antibiotics is attributed to Alexander Fleming who discovered the first antibiotic to be commercially used (Penicillin) in approximately 1928. An antibiotic, also known as an antimicrobial, is a medication that is taken in order to either destroy or slow the growth rate of bacteria. Antibiotics are integral to the success of many medical practises, such as; surgical procedures, organ transplants, the treatment of cancer and the treatment of the critically ill. (Ramanan Laxminarayan, 2013)