Distilled #8: Penicillin Jug
This fermentation vessel comes from a short period in penicillin’s history. We had figured out that penicillin could kill bacteria, but we didn’t know how much medicine people needed or how to mass-produce it. The vessel’s car-muffler shape proved ideal for growing the mold from which penicillin is extracted.
Join Distillations podcast hosts Lisa Berry Drago and Alexis Pedrick as Science History Institute staff members share their favorite objects from our museum, archival, and library collections.