Sir Howard Florey, along with Sir Alexander Fleming, played a crucial role in the discovery and development of penicillin. While Fleming discovered the mould that led to the creation of penicillin, it was Florey who took the discovery further by isolating its active substance and finding a way to mass produce it. This breakthrough came at a critical time, saving millions of lives during World War II and beyond. Florey’s contributions to medicine earned him numerous awards and honors, including the Nobel Prize. Despite being a loner with few close friends, he was deeply passionate about laboratory research and travel. Additionally, he expressed concerns about the population explosion resulting from advancements in medicine.
Quick Facts
- Australian Celebrities Born In September
- Also Known As: Howard Walter Florey, Baron Florey
- Died At Age: 69
- Family:
- Spouse/Ex-: Dr Margaret Jennings (1967–1968), Ethel (1926–1966)
- Father: John Florey
- Mother: Bertha Mary Florey
- Born Country: Australia
- Pathologists
- Pharmacologists
- Died on: February 21, 1968
- Place of death: Oxford, England
- Notable Alumni: University Of Adelaide Medical School, Magdalen College, Oxford, Gonville And Caius College, Cambridge
- Grouping of People: Nobel Laureates in Medicine
- Cause of Death: Congestive Heart Failure
- City: Adelaide, Australia
- Discoveries/Inventions: Discovery Of Penicillin’s Properties
- Education: Gonville And Caius College, Cambridge, Magdalen College, Oxford, University Of Adelaide Medical School
- Awards: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1945)
Childhood & Early Life
Howard Walter Florey was born on September 24, 1898 in Adelaide, South Australia to Joseph and Bertha Mary Florey. He was the youngest of eight children. He completed his preliminary education at Kyre College Preparatory School and then attended St. Peter’s Collegiate School in Adelaide for higher studies. In 1917, he enrolled at Adelaide University and graduated with a degree in MBBS in 1921. He then received a Rhodes scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he earned a degree in BA and MA in 1924. He later studied at Cambridge and gained his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1927.
Career
After completing his doctorate, Florey became a lecturer in Special Pathology at Cambridge. He then took up the Joseph Hunter Chair of Pathology at the University of Sheffield in 1931. In 1935, he returned to Oxford as the Professor of Pathology and Fellow of Lincoln College. It was during his time at Oxford that he read about Alexander Fleming’s paper on the antibacterial effects of Penicillium notatum mould. Florey, along with Ernst Boris Chain and Norman Heatley, conducted research on the properties of naturally occurring antibacterial substances. They eventually produced an effective and safe antibacterial agent from the mould, which became known as penicillin.
Discovery of Penicillin
After publishing a report on penicillin’s chemotherapeutic properties in 1940, experiments and clinical trials were conducted to further explore its therapeutic potential. The antibiotic showed promising results when tested on mice and eventually on humans. Efforts were made to mass produce penicillin during World War II to treat war wounds. The antibiotic was hailed as a miraculous discovery, as it could treat previously untreatable diseases such as pneumonia, syphilis, and scarlet fever.
Awards & Achievements
Florey was elected as a member of the Royal Society in 1941 and became its president in 1958. He was also appointed as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal Australian College of Physicians. In 1945, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Ernst Boris Chain and Alexander Fleming for their work on penicillin. He received honorary degrees from seventeen universities throughout his career.
Personal Life & Legacy
Florey married Ethel, a fellow student at the University of Adelaide, in 1926. They had a daughter and a son. After Ethel’s death in 1966, Florey married lab assistant Dr. Margaret Jennings, but he passed away seven months later due to a heart attack. He was honored with a memorial service at Westminster Abbey in London. Florey’s portrait appeared on the Australian $50 note for 22 years, and in 2006, the Australian Student Prize was renamed the Lord Florey Student Prize in his honor.
Trivia
Despite his pride in the discovery of penicillin, Florey was anxious about the population explosion and blamed himself for the rise in population due to improved healthcare.