Health & biology · 1943

Mass-produced penicillin

Deep-tank fermentation took penicillin from a lab curiosity to millions of doses.

Florey and Chain's 1940 mouse trials led to a US-UK wartime effort using corn steep liquor and a mouldy Peoria cantaloupe strain. By D-Day in 1944 around 2.3 million doses were ready, and cost fell steeply after the war.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 2

Penicillin 1928
Fermented drinks 7000 BCE

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Life expectancy at birth Latest: 73.2 years (2023) Source: Our World in Data

Child mortality (under 5) Latest: 3.74 % (2024) Source: Our World in Data

Maternal mortality in the UK since 1847 Latest: 9.84 deaths per 100,000 births (2020) Source: Our World in Data