From DNA to Beer

Ernst B. Chain

Ernst Boris Chain (1906–1979) was a German-born, British biochemist credited for the discovery of penicillin, along with Alexander Fleming and Howard Florey. For this breakthrough, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945, along with his colleagues. Penicillin, the first antibiotic, made many infections, from bothersome to life-threatening, treatable. Its discovery spawned the pharmaceutical industry.