Noble Prize Recipient. He is remembered for receiving the 1945 Nobel Prize for Medicine as he and his colleagues Alexander Fleming and Ernest Chain invented modern antibiotics. Their discovery of penicillin revolutionized medical science and saved millions of lives. Florey was the youngest child of Joseph Florey, an English immigrant to Australia and a boot maker, and his second wife Bertha Mary Wadham. After attending St. Peter's Collegiate School locally, he graduated from University of Adelaide with a Bachelors Degree in Science and a Medicine Degree in 1921. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship, thus leaving Australia for Oxford College in England where he resided most of his life. From Oxford College, he received a Bachelors of Science Honors degree and Masters in Arts in 1924. That summer, he served as the physician on an Arctic expedition. He entered Cambridge College as a John Lucas Walker Student. In 1925 he visited the United States for ten months on a Rockefeller Traveling Fellowship. He returned to England in 1926 and earned his Ph.D. in 1927 from Cambridge. He also held the Freedom Research Fellowship at the London Hospital. In 1926, he married Ethel Reid, a fellow medical student and his research colleague throughout their life together. In 1927 he was appointed Huddersfield Lecturer in Special Pathology at Cambridge. In 1931 he succeeded to the Joseph Hunter Chair of Pathology at University of Sheffield. By this time, he had succeeded in purifying Iysozyme, a bacteria-destroying enzyme found in tears and saliva. In 1939 Florey and his associate, Dr. Ernst Boris Chain headed the Penicillin Project team at Oxford College. Reviewing a 10-year-old research paper written by Alexander Fleming, they learned that Fleming had discovered the antibacterial effects of a mold called penicillin but had not been able to extract it successfully, but in time they did. Using mice diseased with Hemolytic Streptococci, half of the mice were given Penicillin and cured;the other half died. On August 24, 1940, the two scientists submitted their findings in an article to the "Lancet," an English medical journal that is read world-wide. Without knowing the dosage needed or possible negative reactions, Penicillin was tested on the first human being in January of 1941. The development of antibiotics during World War II was critical as death from infections of battle wounds was common. Since the British pharmaceutical companies had been devastated by enemy bombardment during the war or busy with other contracts, there was a delay in production. He flew to the United States in July 1941 for assistance with production of the antibiotic. The British-American Penicillin Project involved thousands of people, with 35 institutions such as university chemistry and physics departments, government agencies, research foundations, and pharmaceutical companies. He returned to England in September. In 1943, a two-year-old American girl dying with an infection was given Penicillin and cured. In March of 1944 Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company started producing 7,000 gallons of Penicillin in an old building in Brooklyn, New York, and four months later on June 6, 1944, Allied soldiers carried penicillin with them onto the beaches at Normandy. He was knighted in 1944, which was followed with the Noble Prize in 1945. Following the war, penicillin, after further testing, was used widespread throughout the nation by 1957. With Fleming's discovery, they had changed the world with the first mass production of a safe and effective antibiotic. In 1954, one of his research groups developed Cephalosporin C, which he patented. Florey became a Professor of Pathology at Oxford from 1935 to 1962 and Provost of Queen's College. In 1960, he was elected, as the first Australian, to the honor of President of the Royal Society of London. He was inaugural Chancellor of the Australian National University from 1964 to 1966. He was made a life peer in 1965 as Baron Florey of Adelaide in the Commonwealth of Australia and the Marston in the County of Oxford. His wife died in 1966 and he remarried a year later to a long-time colleague, Dr. Margaret Jennings. He is regarded in Australia as one of the world's greatest scientist.

Noble Prize Recipient. He is remembered for receiving the 1945 Nobel Prize for Medicine as he and his colleagues Alexander Fleming and Ernest Chain invented modern antibiotics. Their discovery of penicillin revolutionized medical science and saved millions of lives. Florey was the youngest child of Joseph Florey, an English immigrant to Australia and a boot maker, and his second wife Bertha Mary Wadham. After attending St. Peter's Collegiate School locally, he graduated from University of Adelaide with a Bachelors Degree in Science and a Medicine Degree in 1921. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship, thus leaving Australia for Oxford College in England where he resided most of his life. From Oxford College, he received a Bachelors of Science Honors degree and Masters in Arts in 1924. That summer, he served as the physician on an Arctic expedition. He entered Cambridge College as a John Lucas Walker Student. In 1925 he visited the United States for ten months on a Rockefeller Traveling Fellowship. He returned to England in 1926 and earned his Ph.D. in 1927 from Cambridge. He also held the Freedom Research Fellowship at the London Hospital. In 1926, he married Ethel Reid, a fellow medical student and his research colleague throughout their life together. In 1927 he was appointed Huddersfield Lecturer in Special Pathology at Cambridge. In 1931 he succeeded to the Joseph Hunter Chair of Pathology at University of Sheffield. By this time, he had succeeded in purifying Iysozyme, a bacteria-destroying enzyme found in tears and saliva. In 1939 Florey and his associate, Dr. Ernst Boris Chain headed the Penicillin Project team at Oxford College. Reviewing a 10-year-old research paper written by Alexander Fleming, they learned that Fleming had discovered the antibacterial effects of a mold called penicillin but had not been able to extract it successfully, but in time they did. Using mice diseased with Hemolytic Streptococci, half of the mice were given Penicillin and cured;the other half died. On August 24, 1940, the two scientists submitted their findings in an article to the "Lancet," an English medical journal that is read world-wide. Without knowing the dosage needed or possible negative reactions, Penicillin was tested on the first human being in January of 1941. The development of antibiotics during World War II was critical as death from infections of battle wounds was common. Since the British pharmaceutical companies had been devastated by enemy bombardment during the war or busy with other contracts, there was a delay in production. He flew to the United States in July 1941 for assistance with production of the antibiotic. The British-American Penicillin Project involved thousands of people, with 35 institutions such as university chemistry and physics departments, government agencies, research foundations, and pharmaceutical companies. He returned to England in September. In 1943, a two-year-old American girl dying with an infection was given Penicillin and cured. In March of 1944 Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company started producing 7,000 gallons of Penicillin in an old building in Brooklyn, New York, and four months later on June 6, 1944, Allied soldiers carried penicillin with them onto the beaches at Normandy. He was knighted in 1944, which was followed with the Noble Prize in 1945. Following the war, penicillin, after further testing, was used widespread throughout the nation by 1957. With Fleming's discovery, they had changed the world with the first mass production of a safe and effective antibiotic. In 1954, one of his research groups developed Cephalosporin C, which he patented. Florey became a Professor of Pathology at Oxford from 1935 to 1962 and Provost of Queen's College. In 1960, he was elected, as the first Australian, to the honor of President of the Royal Society of London. He was inaugural Chancellor of the Australian National University from 1964 to 1966. He was made a life peer in 1965 as Baron Florey of Adelaide in the Commonwealth of Australia and the Marston in the County of Oxford. His wife died in 1966 and he remarried a year later to a long-time colleague, Dr. Margaret Jennings. He is regarded in Australia as one of the world's greatest scientist.

Bio by: Linda Davis