science · 05 January 2004 · 20 years ago
death
Died 5 Jan 2004 at age 92 (born 10 Jan 1911).
English biochemist who solved problems in the extraction of penicillin from its mould, and paved the way for mass production. By D-Day of WW II, the Allies had an adequate stock to treat the wounded in danger of serious bacterial infections. Although it was Fleming who accidentally discovered penicillin (1928), it was Heatley who made it practical, making sufficient quantity by 1941 for its first clinical tests. His apparatus included porcelain "bedpans", milk churns and roasting trays to grow the bacteria. Also, an assay method he developed could precisely measure the activity of a sample of penicillin, in what became known as “Oxford units”. His production method used pie plates, cookie tins, and a porcelain vessel dubbed the bedpan.
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