Fleming found that a petri dish containing staphylococci bacteria had been contaminated with an unidentified fungus. The bacteria around the fungus had been destroyed, whereas bacteria that were further away survived.
Janet Parker first became ill on 11 August, but nine days passed before she was admitted to hospital and her infection was identified as smallpox.
The Labour government of Clement Atlee won the first post-war election with a pledge to implement the recommendations of the 1942 Beveridge Report and improve the social welfare system in Britain.
Koch’s announcement that he had identified the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis strengthened the emerging “germ theory” of disease, which argued that many illnesses were caused by microorganisms rather than by environmental or hereditary factors alone.
Lysergic acid diethylamide was modified from one of the principal active components of ergot, a fungus found on rye that had long been known for its medicinal and toxic effects.
The first well-publicised public demonstration of inhaled ether anaesthesia was given at the Massachusetts General Hospital.
The trials of the Pendle Witches are not only some of the most famous but also some of the best recorded witch trials in British history, and represent two per cent of all British witches to face trial over three centuries.
Alexis St. Martin, who had been shot in the stomach, was first treated by US Army surgeon William Beaumont who became known as the ‘Father of Gastric Physiology’.
Josef Mengele, the Nazi ‘Angel Of Death’, was transferred to begin work at Auschwitz concentration camp.
A potential diphtheria epidemic in Alaska was avoided after a dogsled relay transported vials of antitoxin 674 miles in five and a half days in “Great Race of Mercy”.
28th June 2015
11th November 2025
11th November 2025
1st September 2018
9th November 2019
