A moldy melon sold by a fruit seller in Peoria, Illinois in 1942 led to the discovery of a way to extract more penicillin than ever before, ultimately saving countless lives during World War II and beyond.
The world owes a great debt of gratitude to a careless fruit seller in Peoria, Illinois. Although her name is lost to history, the importance of a moldy melon sold at the market was not lost on Mary Hunt, a laboratory assistant who purchased the melon and brought it back to work with her.
It happened in 1942, in the midst of World War II, when the United States was in crisis due to a lack of penicillin. Thankfully, two doctors in that Peoria lab saw hope in the melon and were able to extract far more penicillin than had ever been realized before. They knew they had a miraculous discovery and sent the mold to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where Dr. Milislav Demerec used X-rays to extract even more. Ultimately, that single melon supplied enough penicillin to save immeasurable numbers of lives during the war and in the decades that followed.
The Penicillin Pathway:
According to legend, Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin when he entered his laboratory to find a capless petri dish with mold, now known as Penicillium notatum, growing on it.
Anne Miller was the first person to benefit from penicillin when she was treated with it in 1942, after suffering a life-threatening infection following a miscarriage.
Penicillin comes in many forms, all of which can be used to treat different bacterial infections and prevent disease.
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