Short Stories
of Science and Invention

A Collection of Radio Talks by
Charles F. Kettering

INDEX

Weekly, from September 1942 to July 1945, Charles F. Kettering gave five-minute intermission talks about Science and Invention during the radio broadcasts of the General Motors Symphony of the Air.

Kettering invented the first automobile self-starter, and for 31 years directed a research laboratory for General Motors.

These radio talks are a fascinating legacy from the mind of a prolific inventor. The obvious anachronisms now add a historical perspective of the war-time period in which they were written.

These web pages now preserve some of the most popular stories for a new generation to read The text and art come from a General Motors booklet of selected talks. (Reprint, March 1959)
58.  Dr. Fleming Opens the Door
A Radio Talk by Charles F. Kettering


Fleming     Just recently, a news item told us that the noted scientist Dr. Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin, is in America for a visit with our doctors, scientists and manufacturers. The story of this discovery is both interesting and instructive.

     One day seventeen years ago when Dr. Fleming was teaching bacteriology at St. Mary's Hospital School at the University of London, he set aside a culture of bacteria, and some hours later, when examining the plate under a microscope, he noticed it was spoiled.

    The culture grew on only half the plate - the other half was spotted with a blue-green mold.

Penicillin     Many observers normally would have thrown the plate away - but Fleming had been looking for a special material for a long while so he wrote in his notebook these undramatic words that were to help change the science of medicine, "I was sufficiently interested in the anti-bacterial substance produced by the mold to pursue the subject."


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