The head of the global medical research charity will be giving a lecture entitled “1941 to 2041 – a changing world” as the Dunn School this year celebrates its role in the development of penicillin and the 75th anniversary of the first human trials of the drug at the Radcliffe Infirmary.
Head of Department, Matthew Freeman said: “the administration of penicillin in man marked the birth of the antibiotic era and, unsurprisingly, was recently voted as the greatest medical breakthrough of the 20th century, despite the sad irony that our celebration coincides with the announcement by the UN that the antibiotic era might soon be over.”
The penicillin anniversary event is part of the Dunn School’s annual Norman Heatley lecture series. Norman Heatley, Florey’s associate, is often known as “the forgotten man of penicillin”, but was in many people’s estimation pivotal to the success of penicillin at the Dunn School. The lecture is the department’s premier annual event.
Around 300 eminent medical research scientists, friends and supporters of the Dunn School, and current staff are set to assemble for the lecture in the Weston Library – the newly renovated Bodleian building on the corner of Broad Street and Parks Road.
For an opportunity to learn more about the penicillin story visit the “Back from the Dead” history of penicillin exhibition at Oxford’s Museum of the History of Science from 4 November.