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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Alexander Fleming
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(1881–1955, kt 1944) Bacteriologist who discovered the first mass-produced antibiotic, penicillin (which he named from penicillium, New Latin for a tufted mould). In 1928 he noticed that a mould had accidentally formed on a culture of staphylococcus and that it had killed the surrounding bacteria. He isolated the mould and was able to prove its antibiotic qualities, but it was H.W. Florey (1898–1968) and E.B. Chain (1906–79) who solved the problems of bringing penicillin into clinical use. The three men shared a Nobel prize in 1945.
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