1. Fighting Disease in the 20th Century: PENICILLIN
BGS History
GCSE Revision Tests
Fighting Disease in the 20th Century: PENICILLIN

2. 1) Who made the initial discovery of penicillin?
ALEXANDER FLEMING

3. 2) How did CHANCE help him make his discovery?
By chance he had not washed up some
dishes he had been experimenting on

4. 3) What did he notice about the mould growing in his dishes?
The mould killed all the germs around it (the mould was called penicillin)

5. 4) What were the limitations of his work with penicillin?
He did not make penicillin into a pure drug

6. HOWARD FLOREY & ERNST CHAIN
5) Which two men developed his ideas further, and what did they succeed in doing?
HOWARD FLOREY &
ERNST CHAIN
They made it into a
pure drug which worked
successfully on humans!

7. 1939 = start of Second World War
6) What happened in 1939 which made it much more important to produce a pure form of penicillin?
1939 = start of Second World War

8. 7) What did they not have enough money to do?
Florey & Chain could not afford to mass produce the drug

9. 8) Why were British factories not able to develop penicillin?
They were too busy making bombs and guns to keep the British army going

10. 9) Where was penicillin made instead?
USA!

11. Enough penicillin was being made to supply
10) What had happened by 1944?
Enough penicillin was being made to supply
all the Allied forces!