Talk:Ernest Duchesne

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A fact from Ernest Duchesne appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 3 April 2004. The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that Ernest Duchesne discovered penicillin's antibiotic powers 32 years before Alexander Fleming?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2004/April.

Wikipedia

There were fifteen years between his doctoral defense and his death. Was he in the army the whole time? What was he up to? Rmhermen 06:08, Apr 3, 2004 (UTC)

I've just found a rather detailed chronology of his life at http://www.bium.univ-paris5.fr/sfhad/vol8/article09.htm

Here is a quick translation from French:

He was born May 30, 1874 in Paris
1894, he is admitted at "l'Ecole du Service de Santé Militaire de Lyon" (Military Health Service School of Lyon).
1897, he defends his thesis at age 23.
1898, one year internship at Val de Grace.
1899, he is appointed "Médecin Major de 2eme classe au 2 nd Regiment de Hussards de Senlis".
1901, he marries Rosa LASSALAS, from Cannes. She dies 2 years later of tuberculosis.
1904, he contracts an unknown pulmonary disease.
1907, he is discharged from the army and sent to a care center in Amelie les Bains.
April 12, 1912, he dies at age 37.
He is buried next to his wife in Cannes cemetery.

Delta G 07:52, 3 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Better references

We need better references than this. DanielDemaret 18:08, 30 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

JMcc150 gave me a better reference, so I added it.DanielDemaret 18:57, 30 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Speculation on WWI?

The text says: "His own discovery might have saved him, his wife and millions of other lives in World War I." And the word "might" makes the sentence true. However, Fleming had several more problems after his discovery. It was difficult to grow penicillium mold and having made it, it was even more difficult to refine it. It was still not that easy even after the work of Florey and Chains work.

Here is a speculation of my own. If it had been easy to grow, and Duchesne knew about the mold, then why not use it on his wife and on himself?

And the next question, of course is how far we should speculate in this article. I shall let it stand, but I raise the question on this particular phrase.

I know why Flemings's work was largely ignored, it was well documented. However, is there any information out there on why Duchesnes work was ignored?

It is very interesting that that he discovered the properties this early. Perhaps there are even earlier discoveries, since he found out about it from arab stable boys? Perhaps some Arab doctors? Perhaps from Ibn Sina, even?DanielDemaret 05:52, 31 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

So wasn't it actually discovered by the Arab stable boys? Possibly centuries earlier?

Typhoid

It must have been a different strain of peniccilin than that which Fleming found, since Flemings version did not cure Typhoid, but this one did.DanielDemaret 06:45, 31 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Glaucum

Today, the strain discovered by, Notatum Fleming is the one that produces antibacterial medicin as far as I can see. I can see other uses for Glaucum, but I have not yet found it for antibacterial purpuses. Any help?DanielDemaret 07:53, 31 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Pasteur

I have seen many references to the fact that Pasteur himself had noted that Notatum suppressed bacterial growth, but I am looking for better references.DanielDemaret 07:53, 31 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

History of anitbiotics

This looks like a good reference too

http://www.molbio.princeton.edu/courses/mb427/2001/projects/02/antibiotics.htm

While Fleming generally receives credit for discovering penicillin, in fact technically Fleming rediscovered the substance. In 1896, the French medical student Ernest Duchesne originally discovered the antibiotic properties of Penicillium, but failed to report a connection between the fungus and a substance that had antibacterial properties, and Penicillium was forgotten in the scientific community until Fleming’s rediscovery. DanielDemaret 07:59, 31 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

References

It can be really distracting when trying to look for references on this and related subjects, only to find that many web pages use wikipedia as a reference. Hard to look for veracity when this encyclopedia becomes the original source. It is kind of a closed loop then. DanielDemaret 08:25, 31 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one article was rated and this bot brought all the other ratings up to at least that level. BetacommandBot 03:11, 27 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]