| Description |
1 videodisc (DVD) (55 min.) : sd., col. ; 4 3/4 in. |
| Series |
Storyline Australia (Television program)
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| Summary |
In the late 1920s, a Scot named Alexander Fleming chanced upon a mould called penicillium. He conducted a series of laboratory tests and discovered that the mould could kill bacteria. Although the mould seemed to have medical possibilities, Fleming was unable to isolate the active substance. Ten years later, at the outbreak of the Second World War, Howard Florey, an Australian working at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology in Oxford, found Fleming's article. Penicillin The Magic Bullet is the unlikely and chaotic story of how an Australian created the greatest medicine in the world. This documentary looks at how unlocking the secret of the unstable penicillium mould was "like trying to herd butterflies" and tracks the two strenuous years it took, with almost no money and only basic equipment, for the Oxford team to extract a thimble-full of powder. The film also looks at what happened when word got out about penicillin's extraordinary curative powers and how Alexander Fleming betrayed Florey. Finally, in 1945, three men shared the Nobel Prize Fleming, Florey and Chain and a measure of justice was achieved. However, the original spin had entered popular culture and almost every book since credits Fleming alone for the discovery of penicillin. |
| Notes |
Off-air recording of SBS-TV "Storyline Australia" broadcast August 3, 2006 and of SBS-TV broadcast on January 21, 2007. Copied under Part VA of the Copyright Act |
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Rated: PG |
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DVD |
| Credits |
Writer/Directors: Gordon Glenn ; Editor: Denise Haratzis |
| Performer |
Narrator: Martin Jacobs ; Howard Florey: Fred Whitlock ; Norman Heatley: Brett Climo ; Ernst Chain: Jasper Bagg ; Alexander Fleming: Lew Luton |
| Notes |
A Film Finance Corporation and Arcimedia Productions production in association with Film Victoria |
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Available for Deakin University staff and students only |
| Subject |
Penicillin -- History
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Florey, Howard, Lord, 1898-1968
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Fleming, Alexander, Sir, 1881-1955
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Chain, Ernst Boris, 1906-1979
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| Author |
Glenn, Gordon
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Haratzis, Denise
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Jacobs, Martin
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Whitlock, Fred
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Climo, Brett
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Bagg, Jasper
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Luton, Lew
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SBS-TV
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