“in addition to its theoretical importance, may have practical value for therapeutic purposes.”
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Howard Florey
Howard Walter Florey, Baron Florey of Adelaide and Marston was an Australian pharmacologist and pathologist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Ernst Chain and Sir Alexander Fleming "for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases".
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science · Australian pathologist (1898–1968) · politician · pharmacist · chemist · physician · professor · pathologist · biochemist · also Howard Florey, Lord Florey, Florey
Born 24 September 1898 · Died 21 February 1968 · Q137106
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2026· 2 entries
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Howard Florey - Maker of the Miracle Mould
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1980· 1 entry
Lady Hamilton Fairley, the widow of Sir Neil Hamilton Fairley began a campaign to have a memorial to Florey in London
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1971· 1 entry
It was named the Florey Building in his honour
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1969· 1 entry
And without him additional funding was not forthcoming and the money was exhausted by 1980
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1968· 1 entry
Died 1968-02-21.
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1967· 1 entry
Became the president of the Family Planning Association
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1965· 4 entries
Awarded Order of Merit (1965).
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Awarded John Scott Award (1965).
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Career landmark: member of the House of Lords (1965–1968).
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To give lectures on penicillin, but collapsed in Canberra and was hospitalised in Sydney
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1964· 2 entries
Won Lomonosov Gold Medal (1964).
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Accepted the role of chancellor, a position he held from 1965 until his death in 1968
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1963· 2 entries
(equivalent to £822,000 in 2025), repairs and alterations were at the Royal Society's expense and ultimately came to around £850,000 (equivalent to £15,525,000 in 2025)
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And was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences the following year
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1962· 1 entry
Became provost of The Queen's College, Oxford
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1961· 1 entry
Awarded honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (1961).
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1960· 3 entries
Won Wilhelm Exner Medal (1960).
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Career landmark: President of the Royal Society (1960–1965).
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Worked in cramped conditions in the awkward-to-access offices in the attic and basement
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1959· 1 entry
The Royal Society provided for only one research fellowship, the Foulerton Professorship, but in 1961, at his suggestion, the Henry Dale Research Professorship was created for a researcher in physiology and pharmacology
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1958· 1 entry
Awarded honorary doctorate at the Laval University (1958).
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1957· 1 entry
Won Copley Medal (1957).
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1954· 1 entry
Won Croonian Medal and Lecture (1954).
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1951· 1 entry
Won Royal Medal (1951).
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1950· 1 entry
The Cabinet approved £810,000 (equivalent to A$47,137,000 in 2022) for the building and £200,000 (equivalent to $11,639,000 in 2022) for equipment
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1949· 1 entry
Published Antibiotics: A Survey of Penicillin, Streptomycin, and Other Antimicrobial Substances from Fungi, Actinomycetes, Bacteria and Plants, a massive two-volume work
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1948· 1 entry
But Guy Newton joined the team in his place as its biochemist
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1947· 1 entry
(equivalent to A$229 in 2022), but the design Florey and Sanders agreed upon was a 235,000-square-foot (21,800 m2) building at £4 per square foot (equivalent to A$306 in 2022)
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1946· 2 entries
Awarded doctor honoris causa from the University of Lyon (1946).
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And was awarded the American Medal for Merit in 1948 and the James Smithson Medal in 1965
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1945· 5 entries
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine — for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases.
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Won Lister Medal (1945).
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Awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1945).
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For his contributions to surgical science
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With Ernst Chain and Sir Alexander Fleming "for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases"
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1943· 1 entry
The War Cabinet had agreed to produce penicillin in Australia, and Colonel E
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1941· 2 entries
And as its president from 1960 to 1965, he oversaw its move to new accommodations at Carlton House Terrace and the establishment of links with European organisations
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Used it to treat a police constable from Oxford
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1937· 1 entry
But at that time it accepted only twenty new members each year
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1936· 1 entry
Florey received a letter from Hilda stating that their mother Bertha had terminal cancer, so he arranged to travel to Australia with Ethel, Paquita and Charles during the summer break
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1935· 1 entry
Became the director of the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology at Oxford
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1930· 1 entry
Florey concluded that lysozyme played little part in natural immunity
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1929· 1 entry
Accompanied Florey to Spain, where Sherrington had arranged for him to study methods of nerve staining under Santiago Ramón y Cajal
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1921· 1 entry
Awarded Rhodes Scholarship (1921).
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1920· 1 entry
The family moved into a bungalow in Glen Osmond
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1914· 1 entry
Wished to enlist, but parental permission was required and was not forthcoming
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1911· 1 entry
Entered St Peter's College, Adelaide, where he excelled in chemistry, physics, mathematics and history
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1906· 1 entry
The family moved to "Coreega", a mansion in the Adelaide suburb of Mitcham
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1898· 1 entry
Born 1898-09-24.
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