Discoveries in the Dust and Din of Life

Sir Alexander Fleming (1881–1955), the British microbiologist and co-recipient of the 1945 Nobel Prize for Medicine for the discovery of penicillin, often credited his breakthrough to a fortunate accident—a speck of dust landing on an uncovered culture plate. Years later, while touring a modern, sterile, air-conditioned research lab, his guide remarked, “What a pity you did…