Staphylococcus aureus
S. aureus was discovered in 1880 by a Scottish surgeon, Alexander Ogston. He called it Staphylococcus because of its round, grape-like appearance under a microscope. In 1884, Friedrich Julius Rosenbach identified the Staphylococcus aureus strain from a related bacterium. Before 1940, infections with this pathogen were fatal. However, as penicillin was developed, doctors found that it could cure S. aureus infections. By the end of the decade, S. aureus became widely resistant to penicillin.