September 3
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1928
1928: Alexander Fleming finds penicillin
On this day in 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin—and it was all by chance. After returning to his London lab after a lengthy vacation, he examined petri dishes of Staphylococcus aureus that he had left stacked in a corner, some of them uncovered. On one of them a kind of blue-green fungus had grown, and it seemed to have inhibited the growth of the bacteria. Fleming identified the mold as Penicillium notatum, from which we get the substance’s more common name: penicillin.
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© Chris Ware/Keystone Features—Hulton Archive/Getty Images; Photo Illustration Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Featured Event
LaRC/NASA
After a nearly yearlong journey, NASA’s robotic spacecraft Viking 2 landed on Mars this day in 1976 and began relaying information about the planet’s atmosphere and soil as well as colour photographs of the rocky surface. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about space exploration.]
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
Courtesy of the Chicago History Museum
Form ever follows function.
Born this day in 1856, architect Louis Sullivan—identified with early skyscraper design and considered the spiritual father of modern American architecture—remade the image of the architect as a creative personality.
Famous Birthdays
More on September 3
Miami-Dade Police Department
2012
Colombian drug trafficker Griselda Blanco—who was a leading figure in the Miami drug scene in the 1970s and early ’80s and was known as the “Godmother of Cocaine”—was fatally shot in Medellín, Colombia. [Test your knowledge of criminality and famous outlaws.]
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
2001
American film critic Pauline Kael, an outspoken reviewer for The New Yorker magazine who was celebrated as much for the provocative style of her writing as for the content, died in Massachusetts. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about film.]
Columbia Pictures Corporation/The Museum of Modern Art Film Stills Archive, New York City
1991
American director Frank Capra—who was best known for a series of beloved films that included Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)—died at age 94. [Take our film buff quiz.]
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1971
Qatar officially became independent from the United Kingdom. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about the Middle East.]
Tom Tomsic/AP Images
1970
American professional gridiron football coach Vince Lombardi—who became a national symbol of single-minded determination to win, known for leading the Green Bay Packers to victories in the first two Super Bowls—died at age 57. [How much do you know about American football?]
© Bettmann/Getty Images
1962
American poet and painter E.E. Cummings—who first attracted attention, in an age of literary experimentation, for his unconventional punctuation and phrasing—died at age 67. [Take our authors and poets quiz.]
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (digital file no. cph 3a34038)
1894
Labor Day was celebrated as a legal holiday in the United States for the first time. [How much do you know about U.S. history?]
National Archives, Washington, D.C.
1783
The Treaty of Paris (part of the Peace of Paris) was signed between Britain and the United States. [Test your knowledge of famous documents.]
© Matthew Corrigan/Shutterstock.com
1658
English soldier and statesman Oliver Cromwell died in London. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about English men of distinction.]
© North Wind Picture Archives
1609
English navigator Henry Hudson, in a quest for a passage to India on behalf of the Dutch East India Company, sailed into the harbour of present-day New York City and up the river that now bears his name. [How much do you know about New York City?]