Henry Dawson gave penicillin a job - a real job : lifesaving. That's all he did. But it changed our whole world for the better , forever

Like a lot of the rest of us, penicillin was severely underemployed during the twelve mean years of the Great Depression, between 1929 and 1940.

But on October 16th 1940 (almost seventy five years ago) Henry Dawson finally gave penicillin a job. A real job : lifesaving.

That's all he did.

To most male scientists then and now (much to their discredit) because he wasn't "the first" to "discover" penicillin, he did nothing .

But , in fact, when Dr Dawson gave penicillin a real job, he changed our whole world for the better , forever.

Moms know that - even if male scientists (and male academics generally) - still don't.

Even though real life is more than just teenage pissing contests about who can piss first or furthest....

Recession malaise and technological growth co-exist quite nicely ...

    As the Euro-woes and the American toxic mortgage scandals stall the global economy ( stall its growth rate a little - its not as if the whole world has stopped breathing or something), some sectors of the economy are still going gangbusters.
   As their cousins did during the long 1870s-1890s recession-depression and during the Great Depression 1929-1942.
    Currently it is mobile electronics that is absorbing all the free cash going, and asking for even more, as it throws up cellular towers and fibre optic links everywhere.
   New technological wonders alway find ready money in depressions as the 'smart money' tries desperately to get on board the next 'new thing' , whatever it might be, in an effort to survive and even flourish during hard times for the rest of business.

   Telephones, lightbulbs and anything and everything electrical did well during the 1870s-1890s business slump in the middle of High Modernity's first decades, as did synthetic chemical illusions during the grim 1930s.
   This is why technologically inclined youth often fail to be scarred by growing up and maturing during bad times - 'What bad times?' they ask - all they saw was The Future - and they were sure It Worked......