A biography of the man who discovered how to make and use penicillin, the first natural antibiotic, and so saved millions of lives.
Albert Florey was the son of an Adelaide shoe manufacturer, and was outstanding as a scholar and sportsman. He won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, where he quickly proved to be a brilliant researcher. In those days, people died from minor diseases, or from infected cuts or wounds. Working against tremendous odds, Florey and his team made penicillin available in time to save huge numbers of soldiers injured in World War II. Florey was knighted and awarded the Nobel Prize for his contribution to medicine.