What was the Golden Age of Antibiotics, and how can we spark a new one?

Antibiotic-like remedies date back millennia, with records of moldy bread and medicinal soil being used to treat wounds in ancient Egypt, Greece, and China. We now know they are likely to have contained antibiotic compounds.1

But the modern scientific journey began in the early 20th century. Scientists gradually began discovering antibiotics from synthetic sources, such as dyes, and natural sources, such as bacteria and fungi.

In the 1940s, antibiotic development took off, and a wide range of new antibiotics were discovered. This led to the “Golden Age of Antibiotics” from the early 1940s to the mid-1960s.

In this article, I visualize the history of antibiotics, describe how they were developed, and explain why antibiotic development has slowed down. I also give some ideas on how to reignite antibiotic development today so we can overcome antibiotic resistance and continue to have effective antibiotics in the future.