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📖 The Discovery of Penicillin

10th Grade reading comprehension · History of science · Read the passage, then circle the best answer.

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In September 1928, Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming returned from vacation to his London laboratory and noticed something odd. A mold had contaminated one of his dishes of Staphylococcus bacteria, and around the mold the bacteria had died.

Fleming identified the mold as a type of Penicillium and named the bacteria-killing substance it produced “penicillin.” However, he struggled to produce it in quantities large enough to treat patients.

More than a decade later, a team at the University of Oxford led by Howard Florey and Ernst Chain developed ways to purify and mass-produce penicillin. By the end of World War II, it was saving countless lives.

In 1945, Fleming, Florey and Chain shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The story is often told as a lucky accident, but it also shows how discoveries depend on careful observation and on many people building on one another’s work.

Words to know: contaminate: to make impure by adding something unwanted · purify: to remove unwanted substances from something

  1. What did Fleming notice in 1928?
    1. Bacteria had died around a mold.
    2. His laboratory was flooded.
    3. A new insect.
  2. What problem did Fleming face?
    1. The mold disappeared.
    2. Nobody believed him.
    3. He could not produce enough penicillin.
  3. Who developed mass production?
    1. Fleming alone
    2. Florey and Chain’s Oxford team
    3. Soldiers
  4. What is the author’s purpose in the final sentence?
    1. To show discovery depends on observation and teamwork
    2. To criticize Fleming
    3. To describe a vacation
✂ Answer key: fold or cut along the line

1. A (detail)   2. C (detail)   3. B (detail)   4. A (author’s purpose)

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