Penicillin pack, Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, 1945

Penicillin was the wonder drug that changed the world. It was the first antibiotic and proved an effective treatment against many diseases that are today considered relatively minor, but were more often than not deadly prior to its use.

Discovered in 1928 by Alexander Fleming, the drug was made medically useful in the 1940s by a team of Oxford scientists led by Australian Howard Florey and German refugee Ernst Chain. Penicillin has since saved countless lives.