Three pharmaceutical companies claimed that their scientists had discovered tetracycline before Dr. Conover, though their patent applications were filed later. Advertisement Continue reading the main storyAfter the war, he returned to Amherst and received his bachelor’s degree in 1947. At Pfizer, Dr. Conover was assigned to a team working to determine the chemical structures of the antibiotics oxytetracycline and chlortetracycline — a project that laid the groundwork for Dr. Conover’s discovery. After the team completed its task, the senior scientists went off to write papers about their findings, leaving Dr. Conover with time on his hands. Advertisement Continue reading the main story“Everyone thought that was the end of the project,” Dr. Conover said in the interview.

Source: New York Times March 12, 2017 18:21 UTC