85 years from fantastic discovery of the first antibiotic

"When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn't plan to revolutionise all medicine by discovering the world's first antibiotic, or bacteria killer," Fleming would later say, "But I suppose that was exactly what I did."

The most important medical event of the 20th century – eighty-five years ago on this day. The world’s first antibiotic was indeed nothing less than revolutionary; penicillin has saved more lives than any other single drug, conquering some of humankind’s most ancient scourges – pneumonia, syphilis, gonorrhoea, diphtheria, gangrene, scarlet fever, battle wounds and childbirth infections that had for so long killed millions indiscriminately.