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Discovery of Penicillin... USS Iowa battleship launching...
Discovery of Penicillin... USS Iowa battleship launching...
Item # 719616
August 28, 1942
THE NEW YORK TIMES, Aug. 28, 1942
* Discovery of Penicillin (historic)
* USS Iowa battleship launching
* United States Navy - WWII
The front page has a one column heading: "MIGHTIEST WARSHIP IS LAUNCHED HERE" with subhead. (see images) Lengthy first report coverage continues inside with two related photos.
But a more historic report is located at the bottom right corner of the front page with heading: "New British Drug Said to Top Sulfa" (see images) A historic discovery in the field of medicine.
Much on other World War II events of the day. Complete with all 38 pages, rag edition in nice condition.
AI notes: On August 27, 1942, a major medical milestone: the successful use of penicillin in treating a patient, marking one of the first public acknowledgments of the antibiotic’s effectiveness in Britain. Penicillin, originally discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928, had remained a laboratory curiosity until researchers at Oxford, including Howard Florey, Ernst Chain, and their team, developed practical methods to purify and test it beginning in 1939. By 1941–42, the drug was being tried in London hospitals, where it proved astonishingly effective in saving lives from infections that previously would have been fatal, especially septicemia and battlefield wounds. Wartime shortages, however, meant that only tiny amounts were available, and doctors often went to extraordinary lengths to recover penicillin from patients’ urine for reuse. The 1942 reports signaled to the public that a revolutionary “wonder drug” had arrived, though large-scale production in Britain and the United States would not be achieved until 1943–44.
Category: The 20th Century
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