1942 Penicillin1944 First test tube calf 1955 Polio vaccine1967 First heart transplant 1990 Genetic engineering2000? Nanotechnology Penicillin New Drug   From the Daily Mail,  September 1 1942 Experiments in a laboratory at St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington, are being made with a substance called penicillin, which may become the most valuable drug of the war and one of the most important medical discoveries of all time. Professor Alexander Fleming Professor Alexander Fleming, of London University, first found that a particular mould (similar to the green "whiskers" on bad fruit) possessed strong anti-bacterial powers. It has since been developed by a group of research chemists at Oxford. Their findings and those of a number of scientists working in America have been pooled, and, within the next few months, penicillin will be ready to take its place in the front line of the medical battle against disease. It is extremely expensive to produce at present, and only grants from the Medical Research Council and the American counterpart, the Rockefeller Foundation, have enabled workers to continue their experiments. Penicillin, claimed to be 100 times more deadly to bacteria than the sulphonamide drugs such as the famous M and B 693, is likely to be a particularly effective weapon against badly infected wounds. The drug has already successfully treated skin troubles such as boils and carbuncles. It has also been used in cases of typhoid, scarlet fever, and acute tonsillitis.