What award did Florey and Chain win in 1943 for their development of penicillin?

• A. Pulitzer Prize
• B. Lasker Award
• C. Nobel Prize
• D. Order of Merit

Answer: (C)

The key idea here is recognizing the highest international honor given for a medical breakthrough. Florey and Chain’s work on turning penicillin from a promising discovery into a practical, life-saving drug was celebrated with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, awarded in 1945 to Fleming, Chain, and Florey for their collective role in the discovery and development of penicillin and its therapeutic impact. That award is reserved for fundamental advances that transform medicine, which is why it fits best among the options. The other prizes aren’t the same kind of recognition for a medical breakthrough: the Pulitzer Prize is for writing and journalism, the Lasker Award is a prestigious medical research prize but not the Nobel Prize, and the Order of Merit is a British honour not specific to scientific achievement. Note that the prize year is commonly recalled as 1945, not 1943, even though the prompt might suggest a different year.