Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 594 Penicillin (Happy New Year!)
1917 was an excellent year for Carlo.

First came the successful implementation of the universal health insurance policy, followed by the grand opening of the Madrid Olympics, then the successful completion of the renovation of the Iberian Luxury Avenue, and then news from the Royal Academy of Sciences. In one of the biological research laboratories of the Royal Academy of Sciences, came news that made Carlo very excited: the penicillin that Carlo had been longing for had been discovered.

The benefits of penicillin are self-evident. If penicillin had been discovered during the World Wars, the number of soldiers who died from severe wound infections could have been reduced by at least several million.

In order to discover penicillin as soon as possible, Carlo had already asked the Royal Academy of Sciences to hire Alexander Fleming, the scientist who had discovered penicillin in history.

Because Alexander Fleming had a good relationship with his mentor Wright, the Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences also invited Wright to join them. The two of them became Spanish citizens and brought their families to Spain, settling down permanently in the country.

Alexander Fleming and his mentor Wright were willing to come to Spain because the Royal Spanish Academy offered very generous terms, including a high-level laboratory for each of them and a large amount of research funding each year.

In addition, Alexander Fleming and his mentor Wright also felt the attention from Spain.

After arriving in Spain, the two not only received a personal meeting with Carlo, but also received a promise from him.

If they can develop an effective treatment for the infection, the two will not only receive a share of the subsequent drug sales, but will also be rewarded with a noble title for this outstanding contribution.

Although the two scientists, who valued scientific research, did not place much importance on noble titles, this did not mean that their families did not need such titles.

On the one hand, it allows them and their families to enter the upper class of Spain; on the other hand, it allows their noble titles to be passed down, so that their children and descendants can benefit from their efforts.

Alexander Fleming was born in 1881 and is only 36 years old now.

Fleming was still quite young in the scientific research field. But this did not mean he lacked ability; on the contrary, he was a scientist who combined luck and ability.

Why do I say this? Because the discovery of penicillin in history involved too many coincidences. Time, temperature, and culture environment—these crucial factors were all indispensable.

This is why it is said that Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin was a combination of ability and luck.

Although Spain has cultivated capable biologists, luck is an element that must sometimes be respected in scientific research.

The good news is that although Carlo has forgotten the specific process of penicillin's discovery, he still vaguely remembers some of the more important aspects, such as the discovery of lysozyme.

After Alexander Fleming and his mentor Wright arrived in Spain, Carlo gave them a research task: to develop a vaccine or drug from the perspective of antibacterial and immune systems to reduce the risk of wound infection.

Alexander Fleming and his mentor Wright both knew that if such a drug could be developed, they would be heroes not only for Spain but also for all mankind.

Because they understood the importance of such wound infection control drugs, the two took the task assigned by Carlo very seriously, and were even willing to abandon their own ongoing research.

This is no easy feat for scientists. For most scientists, their research is the most important thing, and they are even willing to give up everything to advance scientific research if necessary.

The fact that the two of them would voluntarily abandon their current research projects and instead devote themselves to the development of drugs to combat wound infections shows just how much they value this task.

Given the remarkable coincidences in the historical discovery of penicillin, it's possible that if experiments were conducted in a conventional manner, penicillin might not have been discovered before its historical discovery.

In order to develop an anti-infective drug as soon as possible, Carlo spared no expense in investing a lot of money to simultaneously carry out the discovery process of penicillin in multiple laboratories, frantically expanding the number of experiments to increase the probability of the discovery of penicillin by chance.

Carlo's level of commitment to this research was at its highest, and Alexander Fleming and Wright could sense the trust Carlo placed in them.

Honestly, if it weren't for trust, who would be willing to invest so much research and development funds in two strangers?
To repay Carlo's trust, the two could only keep throwing themselves into scientific research, even reducing their daily sleep time to 4 hours.

If Carlo hadn't discovered their crazy behavior in time and specifically instructed them to get enough rest every day, their bodies probably wouldn't have been able to hold on long before penicillin was discovered.

Finally, perseverance paid off. After investing substantial research funds, expending a long period of time, and mobilizing hundreds of biological experts, professors, and researchers, on June 24, 1917, the Royal Society finally delivered good news: Alexander Fleming had officially discovered the substance capable of fighting infection and named it penicillin.

Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin can only be described as full of twists and turns. The first step was to discover the lysozyme, a task that, with Carlo's guidance, had already been completed several years earlier.

Although the lysozyme already existed, the subsequent discovery of penicillin was not easy. After such a long period of effort and numerous experiments, only trace amounts of penicillin were finally discovered. It wasn't until the discovery of penicillin that Alexander Fleming and Wright realized just how difficult the process of finding it truly was.

The creation of penicillin requires several conditions, the most important of which is that penicillin spores of unknown origin must fall into the culture medium of staphylococci.

This alone requires extremely strict environmental conditions and a lot of luck.

Secondly, staphylococcal culture media containing penicillin spores must be placed at a suitable room temperature, rather than the optimal 37°C environment for staphylococcal growth.

Thirdly, there are suitable temperature changes that are conducive to the growth of penicillin bacteria.

In mid-June, Madrid experienced a cool climate due to heavy rains. However, by the end of June, the summer heat returned to Madrid, and this temperature fluctuation was a key factor in the discovery of penicillin.

The principle is quite simple. Penicillin requires a cool temperature to grow; the temperature cannot be too high.

It was the drop in temperature in Madrid after the heavy rain that allowed the penicillin in the culture medium to grow in large quantities.

Then came the high temperature, which caused the Staphylococcus to grow rapidly and come into contact with penicillin.

After the two came into contact, a bactericidal phenomenon occurred in the culture medium. This unique phenomenon also caught the attention of Alexander Fleming, who eventually discovered penicillin, which could fight infection.

Why is penicillin confirmed to be an anti-infective agent? Because Staphylococcus aureus is one of the main culprits causing wound infections.

Penicillin can inhibit the growth of Staphylococcus aureus, which means that penicillin can inhibit wound infection.

Carlo was quite excited about this good news from the Royal Academy of Sciences. Although Carlo knew that the discovery of penicillin was still a long way from its mass production, the fact that Spain had now discovered penicillin meant that if a war broke out in the future, Spain would be the first country to possess penicillin.

The importance of penicillin in war goes without saying; for the wounded, penicillin was a precious life-saving medicine.

Even without participating in the war, Spain could still earn a huge income by producing penicillin, completely draining the value of countries in Europe and even the world.

Of course, penicillin would also become a crucial trump card for Spain. If World War II were to break out again, whichever side Spain aligned itself with, possessing penicillin, would have a natural advantage.

Wounded soldiers saved by penicillin could quickly return to the battlefield after recovering, while in countries without penicillin, their wounded soldiers faced a high probability of death when their wounds became infected.

The day after the good news came from the Royal Academy of Sciences, Alexander Fleming and his mentor Wright personally sought an audience with Carlo to give him a full report on the discovery of penicillin.

Like his mentor, Alexander Fleming was a down-to-earth, quiet, and unassuming man.

Even after discovering penicillin and confirming his enormous contribution, Alexander Fleming did not become arrogant or complacent.

He was still the same as when Carlo had seen him before—quiet and unassuming.

Carlo liked this personality trait because it meant that such a person was a down-to-earth scientist who valued scientific research.

Those who are too impulsive often do not achieve great success in scientific research, because scientific research requires calmness and meticulousness.

"I have seen your research results, and this is exactly what I need. Mr. Fleming, you are the greatest contributor to the discovery of penicillin."

Of course, Mr. Wright's contribution should not be overlooked. Your most important task now is to enable the mass production of penicillin.

"The day penicillin is mass-produced, I will personally go to the laboratory to present you with awards and noble titles!" Carlo looked at Alexander Fleming and Wright with satisfaction and encouraged them.

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(End of this chapter)