On 15 September 1928, in a moment of scientific serendipity, Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming made a discovery that would alter the course of medical history.
While meticulously sorting through petri dishes containing colonies of the Staphylococcus bacteria in his cluttered laboratory, Fleming noticed something extraordinary.
A mould, later identified as "Penicillium notatum", had contaminated one of the dishes, and around the mould, the bacteria had been killed.
This accidental observation led to the identification of penicillin, the first antibiotic, which would go on to save millions of lives by revolutionising the treatment of bacterial infections.
