Howard Floreys Laboratory - Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, South Parks Rd, Oxford, UK - Australian Heritage Sites on Waymarking.com

Wikipedia has an article about the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology that advises:

The Sir William Dunn School of Pathology is a Department within the University of Oxford. Its research programme includes the cellular and molecular biology of pathogens, the immune response, cancer and cardiovascular disease. It teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the medical sciences.

The school is named for Sir William Dunn, 1st Baronet, of Lakenheath, whose will provided the initial funding. It is located towards the east end of South Parks Road, to the north of the city centre.

Georges Dreyer was succeeded in 1935 by Howard Walter Florey an Australian as Professor of Pathology. Florey was a physiologist by training and was dedicated to the application of physiological and chemical methods to pathology. His main interests were in the physiology of the cells in the gut, inflammatory reactions and atherosclerosis. He is, however, best known for the work done under his direction that demonstrated the therapeutic value of penicillin and thus ushered in the age of antibiotics.

In 2007 Florey's laboratory was proclaimed by the Australian Government as one of the first three sites on the List of Overseas Places of Historic Significance to Australia.

The Heritage List website also tells us:

Howard Florey's laboratory at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford is important to Australians as the place where this outstanding Australian conducted his pioneering research using the antibacterial component in penicillium mould to develop the drug penicillin for clinical use. Florey's intellectual capacity coupled with his drive, perseverance and determination to develop the 'miracle' antibacterial drug penicillin for use in the Second World War gave to the world the greatest advance in medical science of its day. The work done by Florey and his team at Oxford saved millions of lives and helped alleviated suffering across the globe. As the site where this exceptional advance in medicine was pioneered, Florey's laboratory at Oxford is a place of historical significance to Australia.

Wikipedia has an article about Howard Florey that tells us:

Howard Walter Florey, Baron Florey, OM, FRS, FRCP (24 September 1898 – 21 February 1968) was an Australian pharmacologist and pathologist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Sir Ernst Boris Chain and Sir Alexander Fleming for his role in the development of penicillin.

Although Fleming received most of the credit for the discovery of penicillin, it was Florey who carried out the first ever clinical trials in 1941 of penicillin at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford on the first patient, a postmaster from Wolvercote near Oxford. The patient started to recover but subsequently died because Florey was unable, at that time, to make enough penicillin. It was Florey and Chain who actually made a useful and effective drug out of penicillin, after the task had been abandoned as too difficult.

Florey's discoveries, along with the discoveries of Alexander Fleming and Ernst Chain, are estimated to have saved over 200 million lives, and he is consequently regarded by the Australian scientific and medical community as one of its greatest figures. Sir Robert Menzies, Australia's longest-serving Prime Minister, said, "In terms of world well-being, Florey was the most important man ever born in Australia".

To log a visit, please post a photo of the location you took yourself. You do not have to be in the picture. Please do NOT post pictures of your GPSr! Tell us about your visit. If you cannot provide a photo your visit will still be welcome, but then tell us a bit more, please.