What Fleming actually deserved the Nobel Prize for

Michael Marshall

Sir Alexander Fleming carefully saved his example of a strange mold spore ruining his bacteria experiment, when most would have just thrown it away.

He safely 'spored-up' this rare mold mutation (not as an easy thing to do as it seems for someone not an expert in mold cultivation) so he could reproduce more of it ( relatively unmutated into uselessness) for ever and ever - and he gave those samples away freely to all the world for 15 years.

He repeatedly publicized , albeit weakly and inaccurately , the valuable qualities of his rare mold.

One can not imagine the highly competitive Howard Florey,  George Merck and the OSRD's Newton Richards being so generous with a rare mold sample that came their way.

In fact the evil Dr Richards, I contend, sat on a truly rare and incredibly useful mutation* of Fleming's original mold for years during the war, while millions were dying of disease - not even sending a sample to his good friend Florey.

(* Donated to the NRRL and OSRD by American pharma firm Squibb's English-born director of medical research, Dr George Harrop.)

Richards was hoping to use this boon to give American pharma firms a leg up over their traditional British and continental European rivals in the event his main goal - American-made synthetic penicillin - failed.

But Britain was supposed to be Allied with America.

I don't usually have much sympathy for the unlikeable Dr Florey, but with Allied friends like Richards, who needs Axis enemies ?

Florey was not much of a researcher but tireless as a bully of governments and businesses in his unceasing ambition to do something truly great - fortunately in this case, penicillin went along for the ride along with his ambition.

Chain also shared the Nobel Prize with Fleming and Florey.

 He was a terrible chemist and lab organizer but his petty determination, in the Spring of 1940, to prove his penicillin was as potent as anything Norman Heatley could grow, did move the ambitious Florey off his inactive butt, once Chain showed him that penicillin might work, as at least a mouse systemic.

All three moved penicillin along its very leisurely path to actually saving lives, but I could credit a half dozen others equally worthy for what they did to push it into mass use before the War was over - clearly I feel Martin Henry Dawson did a great deal in this regard.

But it wouldn't have started without Fleming.

 Fungi that produce penicillin aren't really that rare. In addition, they easily mutate and so occasionally produce strains that produce enough penicillin to have an easily visible antibiotic effect.

They must have floated through many labs all over the world for the roughly 100 years of scientific labs, before Fleming finally took notice (and action) about it.

Thank you Sandy, for noticing and reacting ....