HD Stock Footage WWII Penicillin Manufacturing For War Effort 1944 Newsreel

Andrew Jackson Moyer (November 30, 1899 – February 17, 1959) was an American microbiologist who is known mainly for his work on the development of industrial production methods for various microorganisms. Moyer held four patents individually (US #2423873 for the fermentation method of culturing microorganisms, US #2442141 for the use of a nutrient medium of corn steep liquor, glucose, and sodium for the process, US #2443989 for submerged cultures, and US #2476107 for the use of lactose as a slowly assimilating energy source). His research was associated with a total of 10 US patents. He was born in the northern Indiana farming community of Van Buren Township in Pulaski County to Edward Reuben Moyer and Minnie McCloud Moyer. Implications of his work:
Because of Moyer's work, the Allies were able to produce 2.3 million doses of penicillin in time for the invasion of Normandy in the spring of 1944. This development had a major impact on the number of deaths and amputations among Allied forces; penicillin saved an estimated 12%–15% of Allied lives.

Another direct consequence of Moyer's work was a phenomenal drop in the price of penicillin. The price dropped from nearly priceless in 1940, to $20 per dose in July 1943, to $0.55 per dose by 1946. Because of this development, penicillin became widely available around the world after Moyer's methodology was published in 1945 after the wartime secrecy of the time ended.

However, the implications of Moyer’s work extended far beyond those witnessed during his time. Because of his research, penicillin could now be studied by labs around the world, and this led to the development of various forms of penicillin, each of which are effective against different strains of bacteria. Moyer's process of penicillin production provided a model for all other antibiotic fermentations, and his corn steep liquor mixture method is still used in the commercial fermentation processes of penicillin and many other antibiotics today.