Petri Dishes and Sterilizer Box used in penicillin research, USDA, Peoria, Illinois
date: label: date made
content: 1940s
name: label: maker
content: Corning Incorporated
notes: label: Description
content: These Petri dishes and sterilizer box were used by scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Northern Regional Research Laboratory, in Peoria, Illinois, for penicillin research during World War II. The laboratory investigated many different samples of penicillium mold in order to discover the most productive strains and methods for large-scale manufacture of penicillin.
label: Description
content: Lab technicians and scientists screened thousands of mold samples collected from around the world using petri dishes such as these. Ultimately a strain isolated from a moldy cantaloupe from a Peoria market proved to give the best penicillin yield when grown in submerged vats of corn steep liquor—the growth medium developed at the Peoria lab. The work in Peoria made commercial production possible and helped ensure that penicillin was available to meet all the needs of the Armed Forces by D-Day, June 6, 1944.
label: Description
content: Petri dishes are named after German physician Julius Petri. In the late 1880s Petri developed a set of nesting glass plates that created an ideal environment for growing microorganisms. The deep, flat dish filled with a nutrient-rich gelatin provided a place for growth. The lid protected the sample from contamination and facilitated its viewing under a microscope.
label: Description
content: The dishes are made from Pyrex. Pyrex has its origins in the early 1910s, when American glass company Corning Glass Works began looking for new products to feature its borosilicate glass, Nonex. At the suggestion of Bessie Littleton, a Corning scientist’s wife, the company began investigating Nonex for bakeware. After removing lead from Nonex to make the glass safe for cooking, they named the new formula “Pyrex”—“Py” for the pie plate, the first Pyrex product. In 1916 Pyrex found another market in the laboratory. It quickly became a favorite brand in the scientific community for its strength against chemicals, thermal shock, and mechanical stress.
label: Description
content: Sources:
label: Description
content: Dyer, Davis. The Generations of Corning: The Life and Times of a Global Corporation. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
label: Description
content: Jensen, William B. “The Origin of Pyrex.” Journal of Chemical Education 83, no. 5 (2006): 692. doi:10.1021/ed083p692.
label: Description
content: Karvellas, Anna. “Dispatch from Peoria: Mass Production of Penicillin (1940s),” in Arthur P. Molella, and Anna Karvellas. Places of Invention: A Companion to the Exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, 2015. 136–50.
label: Description
content: Kraissl, F. “A History of the Chemical Apparatus Industry.” Journal of Chemical Education 10, no. 9 (1933): 519. doi:10.1021/ed010p519.
label: Description
content: Lax, Eric. The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat: The Story of the Penicillin Miracle. New York: H. Holt, 2004.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
title: label: Title
content: Petri dish
topic: label: Subject
content: Science & Scientific Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
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content: Health & Medicine
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content: Science Under Glass
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: USDA, Northern Regional Research Laboratory, Peoria, IL
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1981.0734.06
label: accession number
content: 1981.0734
label: catalog number
content: 1981.0734.06
objectType: label: Object Name
content: sterilizing box with petri dishes
label: Other Terms
content: sterilizing box with petri dishes; Laboratory Equipment
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: glass (petri dishes material)
label: Physical Description
content: copper (sterilizer box material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 23.2 cm x 22.5 cm x 21.5 cm; 9 1/8 in x 8 27/32 in x 8 15/32 in