title: Howard Florey, Alexander Fleming and the fairy tale of penicillin.
abstract: The public myth of the discovery of penicillin is an archetypal "quest story" of the type common to every human culture. But the real story of the discovery, testing and refinement of penicillin is a complex tale of accident, serendipity, oversight, conflict, the pressure of war, idiosyncratic personalities and even--the invention of history.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Adelaide University, and Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woodville South, SA.
authors.forename: Peter D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Goldsworthy
authors.forename: Alexander C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: McFarlane
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D004739:England; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D010406:Penicillins / Q000266:history*
chemical_list: D010406:Penicillins