UW Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences: Mass Production of Penicillin

© Photographed August 1, 2015

Erected April 2001 by UW Foundation

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin
43.075254,-89.412549
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University of Wisconsin Madison

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

MASS PRODUCTION OF PENICILLIN

During World War II countless lives were saved through the use of the antibiotic penicillin, a natural product of a mold. However, the drug became widely available only after a method was developed to mass-produce it from a selected and genetically altered strain of the mold. University of Wisconsin bacteriologist Kenneth B. Raper isolated a productive organism, botanist John F. Stauffer genetically modified it, and biochemists William H. Peterson and Marvin Johnson developed submerged fermentation techniques to produce penicillin in quantity. The early wholesale cost of 100,000 units dropped from twenty dollars to three cents by the end of the war. 

The marker is located in front of the Microbial Sciences Building on eastbound Linden Drive, at its intersection with Babcock Drive, at or near 1550 Linden Drive, Madison, Wisconsin 53706.

NOTE: Driving around and parking at the UW-Madison campus can be harrowing. Be sure to check the Google Map (above) and campus maps (below) before heading out.

UW-Madison Campus Map

UW-Madison Map and Parking

National Academy of Sciences; Kenneth Bryan Raper / 1908-1987; A Biographical Memoir by Robert H. Burris and Eldon H. Newcomb

Historical Markers Highlight Accomplishments At UW-Madison AG College (Thursday, April 12th, 2001)

Click here for a list of all markers located on the UW-Madison campus. 

With the Microbial Sciences Building in the background.

The marker is in front of the Microbial Sciences Building.

The marker is located on the UW-Madison campus.