Editing Alexander Fleming (section)

==== Experiment ====
By 1927, Fleming had been investigating the properties of [[staphylococci]]. He was already well known from his earlier work, and had developed a reputation as a brilliant researcher. In 1928, he studied the variation of ''[[Staphylococcus aureus]]'' grown under natural condition, after the work of Joseph Warwick Bigger, who discovered that the bacterium could grow into a variety of types (strains).<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Bigger|first1=Joseph W.|last2=Boland|first2=C. R.|last3=O'meara|first3=R. A. Q.|date=1927|title=Variant colonies ofStaphylococcus aureus|journal=The Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology|volume=30|issue=2|pages=261–269|doi=10.1002/path.1700300204}}</ref> On 3 September 1928, Fleming returned to his laboratory having spent a holiday with his family at Suffolk. Before leaving for his holiday, he inoculated staphylococci on culture plates and left them on a bench in a corner of his laboratory.<ref name=":3">{{cite journal|last=Lalchhandama|first=Kholhring|date=2020|title=Reappraising Fleming's snot and mould|url=https://www.sciencevision.org/issue/44/article/292|journal=Science Vision|volume=20|issue=1|pages=29–42|doi=10.33493/scivis.20.01.03|doi-access=free}}</ref> On his return, Fleming noticed that one culture was contaminated with a fungus, and that the colonies of staphylococci immediately surrounding the fungus had been destroyed, whereas other staphylococci colonies farther away were normal, famously remarking "That's funny".<ref>Brown, K. (2004). ''Penicillin Man: Alexander Fleming and the Antibiotic Revolution''. 320 pp. Sutton Publishing. {{ISBN|0-7509-3152-3}}.</ref> Fleming showed the contaminated culture to his former assistant Merlin Pryce, who reminded him, "That's how you discovered lysozyme."<ref>Hare, R. ''The Birth of Penicillin'', Allen & Unwin, London, 1970</ref>{{Page needed|date=January 2025|reason=Quote not found via automatic text search}} He identified the mould as being from the genus ''[[Penicillium]].'' He suspected it to be ''P. chrysogenum,'' but a colleague Charles J. La Touche identified it as ''P. rubrum.'' (It was later corrected as ''P. notatum'' and then officially accepted as ''P. chrysogenum''; in 2011, it was resolved as ''P. rubens.'')<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Houbraken|first1=Jos|last2=Frisvad|first2=Jens C.|last3=Samson|first3=Robert A.|date=2011|title=Fleming's penicillin producing strain is not Penicillium chrysogenum but P. rubens|journal=IMA Fungus|volume=2|issue=1|pages=87–95|doi=10.5598/imafungus.2011.02.01.12|pmc=3317369|pmid=22679592}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hibbett|first1=David S.|last2=Taylor|first2=John W.|date=2013|title=Fungal systematics: is a new age of enlightenment at hand?|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nrmicro2963|journal=Nature Reviews Microbiology|volume=11|issue=2|pages=129–133|doi=10.1038/nrmicro2963|pmid=23288349|s2cid=17070407}}</ref>

[[File:Fleming's Plaque - geograph.org.uk - 1452410.jpg|thumb|right|Commemorative plaque marking Fleming's discovery of penicillin at [[St Mary's Hospital, London]] ]]
The laboratory in which Fleming discovered and tested penicillin is preserved as the [[Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum]] in St. Mary's Hospital, [[Paddington]]. The source of the fungal contaminant was established in 1966 as coming from La Touche's room, which was directly below Fleming's.<ref name=":7">{{cite journal|last=Hare|first=R.|date=1982|title=New light on the history of penicillin|journal=Medical History|volume=26|issue=1|pages=1–24|doi=10.1017/s0025727300040758|pmc=1139110|pmid=7047933}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Curry |first=J.|date=1981|title=Obituary: C. J. La Touche|journal=Medical Mycology|volume=19|issue=2|page=164|doi=10.1080/00362178185380261}}</ref>

Fleming grew the mould in a pure culture and found that the culture broth contained an antibacterial substance. He investigated its anti-bacterial effect on many organisms, and noticed that it affected bacteria such as staphylococci and many other [[Gram-positive]] pathogens that cause [[scarlet fever]], [[pneumonia]], [[meningitis]] and [[diphtheria]], but not [[typhoid fever]] or [[paratyphoid fever]], which are caused by [[Gram-negative]] bacteria, for which he was seeking a cure at the time. It also affected ''[[Neisseria gonorrhoeae]],'' which causes [[gonorrhoea]], although this bacterium is Gram-negative. After some months of calling it "mould juice" or "the inhibitor", he gave the name [[penicillin]] on 7 March 1929 for the antibacterial substance present in the mould.<ref name=":52" />