posted on 2009-01-13, 11:55authored byGilbert Shama, Gerben van der Els
● Two separate groups of Dutch microbiologists led clandestine efforts to produce
antibiotics while the country was occupied during World War II.
● In one of these efforts, J.V. Köningsberger and Abraham van Luyk at the Botanical
Laboratory in Utrecht tested antibiotics produced by Penicillium expansum on
animals and humans.
● Although hampered by wartime censorship, this Dutch group benefitted from
information on penicillin from an unusual source—namely, a leaflet that British Royal
Air Force (RAF) fliers dropped over Holland.
● The group in Utrecht laboured under conditions of severe deprivation, but despite
their best efforts their work came to an abrupt end in August 1944 when gas and
electricity supplies collapsed.
History
School
Aeronautical, Automotive, Chemical and Materials Engineering
Department
Chemical Engineering
Citation
SHAMA, G. and VAN DER ELS, G., 2008. A whirlwind in occupied Holland. Microbe, 3 (11), pp. 511-515