Since ancient man first discovered the therapeutic (or otherwise) use of plants, drugs have evolved from simple leaf concoctions to complex synthetic chemicals that modern man uses to treat ailments. The following are some of the greatest drugs that man has come up with.
Penicillin
1. Penicillin.
This most common of drugs is probably the most underrated. Its discovery is generally credited to Alexander Fleming of Scotland, who in 1928 demonstrated that by letting penicillium notatum grow in the proper substrate, it gives off material that has antibiotic properties. He called it penicillin. His discovery won him a Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine in 1945.
The Australian Howard Walter Florey, however, is the one who gets credit for developing penicillin as an antibiotic. Florey shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine along with his colleague Ernest Chain the same year Fleming did.