Where were cephalosporins discovered?
In the sewers of Sardinia.
It not all white lab coats, fancy conical glasses and staring at petri dishes. A large number of antibiotics have been discovered in rather gruesome circumstances.
Giuseppe Brotzu of Sardinia wondered why typhoid fever was less virulent in his city than elsewhere. He had many theories until one day while passing through the bay of “Su Siccu” he saw some young people swimming in the waters near a sewage outlet and wondered why they had not contracted this disease from contaminated faeces.
With haste he scooped up some sewer water, boiled up some placenta for medium and discovered a cure for this gram negative bacteria !!
G Mohan.