History of penicillin History of penicillin The history of penicillin follows a number of observations and discoveries of apparent evidence of antibiotic activity in molds before the modern isolation of the chemical penicillin in 1928. There are anecdotes about ancient societies using molds to treat infections, and in the following centuries many people observed the inhibition of bacterial growth by various molds. However, it is unknown if the species involved were "Penicillium" species or if the antimicrobial substances produced were penicillin. The Scottish physician Alexander Fleming was the first to suggest that a "Penicillium" mold must secrete an antibacterial substance, and the first
Valentine S. McClatchy Valentine S. McClatchy Valentine Stuart McClatchy (August 29, 1857 – May 15, 1938) was an American newspaper owner and journalist. As publisher of "The Sacramento Bee" (now The McClatchy Company) from their father's death in 1883, McClatchy co-owned the paper with his brother Charles K. McClatchy until 1923. After leaving the newspaper business, he became a leading figure in the anti-Japanese movement in California, forming key exclusionary groups to lobby for alien land laws and race-based limits on immigration and naturalization. McClatchy was the son of the prominent nineteenth-century publisher James McClatchy, who founded the "Sacramento Bee" (known as the