Howard Walter, Baron Florey

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Howard Walter, Baron Florey.

Although one of the Scientists that discovered the method of making Penicillin during WW2 and saving many millions of lives from then until now, had a very interesting first in his life that is not well known.
Howard Florey
1898 * 1968
Microbiologist/Immunologist
The man responsible for developing penicillin is one of Australia¹s most famous scientists. Less known is his participation in the first Arctic expedition to use an aeroplane. When this also became the first expedition to have a plane crash Florey used his medical training to patch up the wounds of the pilot and team leader. Born in Adelaide, where he completed his medical degree, Florey spent almost his entire research career in Britain. He had a very direct manner which earned him many enemies but his ability to investigate nature with clear and unambiguous experiments won him great respect. In the 1930s Florey studied anti-bacterial chemicals produced by fungi, including penicillin. In 1941 penicillin was first tried on nine human patients with impressive results. The use of penicillin was vital for the allied war effort. His work in taking Alexander Fleming¹s fortuitous observation, to produce a drug with demonstrated antibiotic effectiveness against a range of untreatable and deadly infections, won him the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine (with Fleming and Chaim) in 1943. He was elected the first Australian President of the Royal Society of London in 1860 where he was known as 'the Bushranger President' and was made Lord Florey of Adelaide in 1965. A founding father of the John Curtin School of Medical Research, he was made Chancellor of the ANU in 1964 and served two terms in that position. Florey died from a heart attack in 1968.