The Flemming/Florey story is actually an interesting bit of science history, but it's about popular media and the romance of science v.s. how real science is do

The Flemming/Florey story is actually an interesting bit of science history, but it's about popular media and the romance of science v.s. how real science is done with patience, selfless dedication and a literature search. When Chain joined the Oxford lab, a literature search turned up 6 candidate "penicillins" which they went on to investigate. Fleming smoked a pipe, got to the office about 10, and was accessible (being in London). This version of the story admittedly comes from a Howard Florey biography I read 10 years ago..