"Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin - which he found growing on a petri dish of staphylococci when he returned to work after a holiday - revolutionised healthcare and turned the modest, self-effacing Fleming into a world hero. A team at Oxford, led by Howard Florey and including German Jewish refugee Ernst Chain, helped to turn Fleming's find into a usable drug and, in an unprecedented move of international cooperation, penicillin was taken over to America to be produced on a mass scale. Yet it was not until the bombing of Pearl Harbor that sufficient backing was given to its production and the drug was able to play a vital role in wartime. Penicillin reduced the deaths among soldiers to a third of the First World War rate and its astounding success grabbed the public imagination. Tales of scientific rivalry, sometimes exaggerated, emerged, and fantastic myths were generated about Fleming's background. At the heart of the drama was the very private figure of the man himself, bemused at being catapulted into international fame." "In this new biography Kevin Brown provides a re-evaluation of Alexander Fleming and his scientific contribution, examining both the public figure and the private man. Penicillin Man will appeal to anyone fascinated by social and medical history or interested in the story of the man behind one of the most important discoveries of the twentieth century."--BOOK JACKET.