A STUDYGUIDE by RobeRt Lewis

www.metromagazine.com.au

www.theeducationshop.com.au

SYNOPSISPenicillin: The Magic Bullet (Gordon Glenn, 2006) is a 52-minute documentary using dramatic re-enactment to tell the story behind the discovery and production of penicillin, and the way

history may have got it wrong.

When Alexander Fleming tele-phoned Howard Florey on the night of 5 August 1942,

to ask for a sample of his new medi-cine to treat a sick friend, Florey could not know that his act of generosity in giving Fleming their limited supply would rob him and his team of most of the public credit for the worlds first antibiotic – penicillin.

Fleming had ceased working on the penicillin mould fourteen years earlier because he saw no practical medical application in it. But when he used Florey’s gift, as far as the British popu-lar press were concerned, the story was complete. Penicillin was Fleming’s discovery and his alone.

In the years that followed, Fleming – for his own reasons perhaps – never put the record straight. This program sets out to do just that.

Florey’s genius was to use a team approach and the Oxford Group had three key members:

• Howard Florey himself, known as ‘The Bushranger’ because of his rough manner and his success at raising research funds;

• the temperamental and gifted biochemist Ernst Chain, a Jewish refugee from Germany with five pounds to his name who lost his family in the holocaust; and

• an Englishman, Norman Heat-

ley, a skinny-as-a-rake genius at making laboratory equipment. He made the first minute quantities of the drug using a strange-looking machine be built from five pounds worth of dairy equipment; glass he had blown himself; some old book-shelves, and an alarm clock.

In the first clinical trials the first patient made a miraculous recovery. Despite a relay race on bicycles transporting the patient’s urine back to the lab to recover minute amounts of penicillin, the patient relapsed and died as the powder ran out.

Later critically ill children were used because they needed less penicillin.

ABOVE, L-R: JAmES KENT, NORmAN HEATLEY, HOwARD FLOREY & ERNST CHAIN (PHOTO: GORDON GLENN); COVER: FLOREY (PHOTO: ALICE GLENN)

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When they had the proof that penicillin worked, Florey and Heatley made a secret flight to America – with penicil-lium spores rubbed into the cloth of their coats to prevent it falling into German hands – to convince US drug companies to begin production in large quantities.

Then Alexander Fleming telephoned to ask his favour. Unguarded – half the team were no longer on speaking terms – they agreed, and having succeeded in working the miracle of a medicine which would empty half the western world’s hospital wards, they watched in dismay as the British wartime propa-ganda machine stepped in and gave all the publicity to a rival hospital, and all the credit to someone else.

Three men shared the Nobel Prize in 1945: Fleming, Florey and Chain (Heatley, a mere laboratory technician missed out), and a measure of justice was achieved. But by then the original

‘spin’ had entered popular culture and almost every book since on great discoveries refers to Fleming alone as the discoverer of penicillin.

In 1969 the Americans named a crater on the moon after Fleming. Is it named after the wrong man?

CURRICULUM GUIDEPenicillin: The Magic Bullet can be used in middle to upper secondary level classes in:• History – How history is

represented• English – Creating a biography• Science – The elements of

scientific method• Biology – Infection and

resistance• media Studies – Story-

telling and reconstructions in documentaries

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BEFORE wATCHING THE FILmWelcome to this meeting of the jury to award the Nobel Prize for ‘Discovery’ this year.

As you know, this is the special award of fifty million dollars that goes to the person who has made the most significant discovery that has benefited humanity.

GROUP: ________________________________________________________________________________________

I vote for: APPLICANT A APPLICANT B APPLICANT C APPLICANT D

Because: _____________________________________________________________________________________________

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Past winners have involved the dis-covery of the way to eliminate poverty, the discovery of the way to create world peace, and the discovery of the way to eliminate racism.

This year’s award is right up there with these great discoveries. It is for the discovery that eliminated cancer.

The problem is, there are four appli-cants for the award. We do not know who should get it, so we have asked you to meet and decide. Without any more delay, let’s look at the applicants. They are:

Applicant A: She is an indigenous inhabitant of the Brazilian rainforest. She found the plant that cured cancer after a mysterious space rock crashed into the area. She was the only person who knew that the plant contained the juice that seemed to cure certain cancers. She only ever used it for her

own tribe. This plant was the only one of its type and would not propagate. It would have disappeared forever if it had not been for Applicant B.

Applicant B: He met A, and learned the secret. He managed to secretly extract part of the sap that seemed to contain the healing power of the plant. He experimented to separate the healing element from the rest, but was unable to do so. He wrote a scientific paper in which he admitted his failure.

Applicant C: This is where Applicant C enters the story. She was a great research scientist, and came across B’s research paper. She saw where he had gone wrong, and was able to identify how to extract the key element – at least in theory. She was never able to do so in practice. She met Appli-cant D and told him about her failure.

Applicant D: Applicant D was a very in-

novative person, and saw a way to man-ufacture the key element in large quan-tities. He set up equipment to do this, and the rest is history – and there are no more deaths from cancer in the world.

Well, judges, it’s up to you. Cast your vote for one applicant only – and may you choose the best person. (com-plete box below)

Exploring Issues And Ideas In The Film

• Who did you vote for in the intro-ductory exercise? Your vote was determined by your idea of the meaning of ‘discovery’.

Penicillin: The Magic Bullet is about ‘discovery’. It is also about biography, the scientific method, the way people and events are represented in his-tory, human motivation, and human strengths and weaknesses.

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Understanding the story

The film is about the effect of penicillin in medical history.1 What is penicillin?2 What does it do to bacteria?3 Why is this so significant?4 What has the impact of penicillin

been on the world?

Alexander Fleming5 What did he achieve in 1928?6 What was the importance of this?7 What was its limitation?8 When did he re-appear in the story?9 What did he have to do with the

medical trials and the mass manu-facture of penicillin after 1928?

Howard Florey10 What did he do?11 Why was his role so important?

Ernst Chain12 What did he do?13 Why was his role so important?

Norman Heatley14 What did he do?15 Why was his role so important?

16 What judgements does the film make about the role of the four men?

17 What did the Oxford University team achieve?

18 What is the Nobel prize?19 Why is it so important?20 What message about the discov-

ery of penicillin and its use in the world do you take from the film?

Storytelling in the film

You might say that the film is about the discovery of penicillin. But that story could have been told in a few minutes.

Penicillin: The Magic Bullet is actually about the story behind the discovery of penicillin – the people involved, the events, the crises and conflicts, the problems faced and the way they were overcome, the human triumphs and tragedies, the emotions and ambitions involved, the clash of personalities, and the possible injustice.

1 Look at the elements that are included in the story. Some of them are listed in the introduction above. Explain how each of these

After watching the FilmAfter you have watched the film, answer these questions, and explore the

issues that the film raises.

FROm TOP: ERNST CHAIN wORKING IN LAB; FLOREY wITH CAmERA; HEATLEY AND HIS mACHINE (ALL 3 PHOTOS: GEORGIA mETAxAS); ETHEL FLOREY AT TENNIS (PHOTO: ALICE GLENN)

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contributes to (or perhaps does not contribute to) the story that is presented in the film. Would the film have been weakened without these elements? Is there a way the story could have been made stronger?

The film also comprises many ele-ments that work together to help tell the story.

The film’s maker, Gordon Glenn, has these comments about aspects of the making of the film:

Storytelling

The natural rhythms of storytelling have always favoured Fleming.

The Oxford work has been an irritating sidetrack. As readers, or viewers we demand that the tale begin and end with the great man. Inconvenient story elements – like the ten-year gap be-tween 1929 and 1940 – get in the way of a good yarn. The truth is irritating to the myth.

For the first time, we start the penicillin story with an Oxford perspective and allow Fleming to enter it as he did – as a surprise.

Dramatic Re-enactments

There was never enough archive mate-rial to tell the Oxford story properly as a television documentary. The Oxford team had shunned publicity and only been recorded in rather stilted poses for a 1945 documentary.

We wanted to make the program for a general audience – not a specialist science audience.

For this reason we chose to use full colour re-enactments. Dramatic re-

enactments allow us to go behind the scenes at the Sir William Dunn School as the three scientists clash and strug-gle to extract the vital element from the mould.

An additional bonus was our discovery that Florey was a keen 16mm camera-man and documented his work and his family life in home movies. We have used these and his excellent stills col-lection to deepen the portrayal of the man.

Re-enactments were controversial a

FROm TOP: DIRECTOR GORDON GLENN ON LOCATION; PRODUCER CLAIRE JAGER ON LOCATION (PHOTOS: ALICE GLENN)

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few years ago.

The French called them ‘evocations’ at the start of the fashion. Images to evoke a reality or a mood. Then, The History of Britain used historical clubs where the members liked to dress up and re-enact such things as the Bat-tle of Hastings on weekends for the cameras.

Times have moved on. The Seven Wonders of the Industrial World and other programs have proved that audi-ences like re-enactments and that they can be done in credible and satisfying ways.

On The Magic Bullet, it was a gradual process of becoming bolder as we explored the idea of re-enactments. At the Work Congress of History Produc-ers in Toronto in 2005 we became emboldened as we watched an English production, which used CGI to put the actual faces of Churchill, Hitler, Stalin and Roosevelt on actors playing Churchill, Hitler, Stalin and Roosevelt. At that Congress there were many programs with full dialogue based on transcripts from court cases, public in-quiries or air traffic control monitoring.

Our script had always been a hybrid of

full drama and documentary. As words on the page it ranged backwards and forwards trying to find the correct mix. We probably had a secret wish that someone would give us the money to make it as a drama, similar to Life Story, the film about Crick and Watson and the discovery of DNA. When we pitched to the French at Arte they urged us to make a full blown drama, but unfortunately declined to fund to an adequate level.

The finished work uses look-alike actors to enable us to cross between Florey’s footage, archive stills and our scenes.

The last stage in our process was a decision to use our actors to do inter-views using the actual words of the three scientists. It evokes for the story a personal dimension, and we hope will bring audiences to an emotional involvement with the struggle that gave us penicillin.

2 Look at the following aspects of making the film, and decide how each of them contributes to the overall effect.• The structure or sequence

of the film, building up to its climax

FROm TOP: DIRECTOR GORDON GLENN & PRODUCER CLAIRE JAGER; HEATLEY & HIS LAB ASSISTANT; PENICILLIN GIRLS; HEATLEY & FLOREY; DIRECTOR GORDON GLENN wITH HEATLEY & FLOREY (PHOTOS: GEORGIA mETAxAS)

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• The use of dramatic recon-structions

• The role of the narration and script

• The use of historical stills and footage

• The device of having actors talk to the audience

• Music• Editing• Use of sites

3 Do you think Penicillin: The Magic Bullet is a good and successful documentary film? Explain your views.

Representing the past

Penicillin: The Magic Bullet is a rep-resentation of history — that is, it is one person’s view or selection of what happened. In this case the filmmaker emphasises the role of the Oxford team, headed by Florey, rather than the Fleming emphasis which is often presented.

Here is the Director’s statement about his own view of the film:

It is hard to avoid hyperbole when talking about the discovery of penicil-lin. It emptied whole hospital wards, it saved 300,000 lives in the latter years

of WW2, it ushered in the antibiotic revolution. It truly was a magic bullet.

Although three men shared the Nobel Prize for penicillin, the world has al-ways believed Alexander Fleming was responsible.

Between 1942 when the penicillin story broke and 1955 when Fleming died, he received the Nobel Prize, a knighthood and 127 doctorates from grateful governments and universities around the world. The Pope lauded him, Presidents and Kings fell down before him. In Spain they thought he was a saint.

But in 1929 when Fleming published an inconclusive paper on a mould called penicillium, neither he nor others at the time recognized that the substance would be of any great clinical value. Even as late as 1940, Fleming said of penicillin ‘the trouble of making it seemed not worthwhile’.

Then in 1942, after a team at Oxford had found a way to make what we now call penicillin, and tested it on humans, Fleming was thrust forward to claim all the credit.

An orchestrated campaign, by St

FROm TOP: PENICILLIN BOTTLES; --- ; PENICILLIN mOULD IN PETRI DISH (PHOTOS: ALICE GLENN)

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Mary’s hospital where Fleming worked, and by newspapers controlled by the press baron Lord Beaverbrook, who sat on the Board of St Mary’s, com-bined to sideline the crucial Oxford work. There were no investigative reporters to cover the story. The public believed what they were told, and they were told that the shy Scot was responsible. The 10-year gap between his work and the creation of a medi-cine was explained away. His evasive answers were taken as shyness and modesty. His widow barred access to the uncomfortable records in his

laboratory notebook.

To this day, the public still credit the discovery of penicillin to Fleming, while those who did the crucial work remain forgotten.

But change is in the air.

1 The film claims that it is presenting an accurate picture, and that most people believe a flawed or inaccu-rate picture. Is this true?

2 Devise a simple test of what peo-ple know about the discovery of

penicillin, and the role of the main people involved in it. You need to do this carefully. For example, if you ask: ‘Did you know that Florey was responsible for isolating and manufacturing penicillin?’, and an interviewee answers ‘Yes’, how do you know that it is true? A better version of this question might be: ‘Name the person who …’

3 A follow up question to whichever name they give is: ‘How do you know that?’ This will help you to identify the main sources of knowledge – school, books, TV programs, etc.

4 Another way of testing the public perception of the discovery of penicillin is to Google search and see how many times Fleming’s name comes up as the discoverer of penicillin. Use the question: ‘Who discovered penicillin?’

The Google search favours Fleming, and there is a good chance that your own survey of people did so as well. How do you test whether any represen-tation of an historical event or period is accurate? Here is some information from a university botanist’s website about the discovery of penicillin. Read it, and then decide how Penicillin: The Magic Bullet compares with it.

FROm TOP: NORmAN HEATLEY; HEATLEY’S ASSISTANT, GLISTER, ON THE ‘P-PATROL’ (PHOTOS: ALICE GLENN)

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• Ancient people as early as 1500 BC knew that mould could help heal injuries.

• Some Aboriginal people used to take bark from the mouldy side of a tree and use it to treat wounds.

• Joseph Lister, an English surgeon, observed in 1871 that urine sam-ples contaminated with mould did not allow the growth of bacteria.

• In 1874 William Roberts observed that bacterial contamination was often absent in cultures of a peni-cillin mould.

• In 1877 Louis Pasteur and Jules Francois Joubert observed that cultures of the anthrax bacilli, when contaminated with some moulds, became inhibited.

• In 1897 Ernest Duchene recorded in his work that some penicillin mould inhibited bacterial growth. He died during World War 1 and was unable to follow up his studies.

• In the 1920s Andre Gratia and Sara Dath observed fungal contamination inhibiting the growth of bacteria.

• From the early 1920s Fleming was searching for antibacterial agents

• In 1928 he made a chance obser-vation of bacterial cultures being inhibited by airborne moulds. This was due to his sloppy research techniques in not caring for his

experiments properly, rather than through good investigative work. However, he was actively searching for antibacterial agents at the time. But he then wrote his paper and made further attempts until 1931 to follow up his research, but gave up due to lack of success in isolating the feature that caused the death of the bacteria.

• Dr Cecil Paine, who had read Fleming’s paper, carried out some successful treatments using penicillin, but he did not publish anything about these. Paine had, however, discussed his work in 1932 with Howard Florey. Florey later said that he had forgotten the conversation, but a student claimed that Florey had referred to it in a lecture in 1936.

• The film’s maker, Gordon Glenn, says that Paine had been a student at St Mary’s hospital before he came to work for Florey at Sheffield Uni in 1932. While with Florey he did some work with the surface ap-plication of penicillin broth on eyes but never considered using penicil-lin to treat infection inside the body. Florey was fully aware of this work but was not interested in 1932 and Paine’s results were not dramatic.

• Florey’s team started working on

penicillin in 1938 after reading Fleming’s 1928 paper.

http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/fac-ulty/wong/BOT1��/Lect�1b.htm

5 How does this representation of what happened in history compare with that of the film?

6 Can more than one representation in history be true? Discuss this idea.

Scientific method

The film shows the way in which a scientific development occurred.

1 What does it tell you about the role of the following in that process:• Ideas• Innovation• Hypotheses• Research• Trial and error• Tests• Record keeping• Chance• Equipment• Funding• Building on the past• Breaking with the past• Role of the individual• Role of teamwork.• Patenting

ABOVE: HOwARD FLOREY wRITING IN STUDY (PHOTOS: ALICE GLENN)

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Biography

Some school curricula ask students to explore the role of a significant person in history, and Howard Florey is some-times given as a suitable person to investigate.

The film can be seen as a biography of Florey. A good biography will allow the audience to understand the achieve-ment, but also the person behind the achievement.

1 List the characteristics and quali-ties in Florey that are shown in the film.

2 Do you think the film creates a full and believable portrait? Explain your reasons.

3 Are there any questions about the man and the issue that you feel are unanswered, and that need to be asked?

4 We are told about Fleming’s private affairs – his deteriorating relation-ship with his wife, and his affair with Margaret Jennings. Is this intrusive? Or is it a proper concern with knowing the truth so that we

can understand a situation? Would it make any difference if Florey were alive today, or is it acceptable because he is dead? Explain your views.

5 The discovery of ways to mass-produce a safe and effective form of penicillin has saved millions of lives. Would you call Florey a ‘hero’? Explain your ideas.

6 In a recorded interview held at the Australian National Library in Canberra, Florey said:

People sometimes think that I, and the others, worked on penicillin because we were interested in suf-fering humanity. I don’t think it ever crossed our minds about suffering humanity. This was an interesting scientific exercise, and because it was of some use in medicine is very gratifying, but this was not the reason that we started working on it. (http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/nlanews//�001/sep01/hflorey.html)

Does this matter? Could you still call him a hero? Justify your opinion.

7 What would you say was Florey’s role in Australian history? You will

need to research further, par-ticularly looking at his role in the John Curtin School of Medicine at Australian National University.

Conclusion

• Who discovered penicillin? Explain your reasons.

• Would you change the vote you cast at the start of this study?

FURTHER RESOURCES

• Eric Lax, The Mould in Dr Florey’s Coat, Abacus, London, 2004.

• Australian Dictionary of Biography Online Edition http://www.adb. online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A1�0�0�b.htm

• Nobel Prize site http://nobelprize.org/medicine/laureate/1���/ florey-bio.html On this site you can also play the Discovery of Penicillin Game. Go to http:// nobelprize.org/medicine/ educational/penicillin/index.html

• ABC Science http://www.abc.net.au/science/slab/florey/story.htm

This study guide was produced by ATOM editor@atom.org.au

For more information on ScReen eDucation magazine or to download other free study guides visit

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