Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928 by isolating a rogue mould on a !
Question:
Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928 by isolating a rogue mould on a culture dish.?
What on earth made him think that a mould could have antibaterial qualities?
Answers:
When he saw the dead bacteria around the mold he had the presence of mind to check it out further rather than just clean the dish.
He did a "double check", just to see what was really going on, and was pleasantly surprized to find that a mold which was non-toxic to humans was toxic to bacteria.
The mold was a complete accident of chance, but he had the book knowledge and work experience to understand what he was looking at.
And fortunately, he got there before the graduate assistant arrived to mindlessly wash the whole glomp away.