Ernest Duchesne (1874-1912) was a French physician who noted that certain molds kill bacteria. He made this discovery 32 years before Alexander Fleming discovered the antibiotic properties of penicillin, a substance derived from those molds, but his research went unnoticed. In a series of experiments, he studied the interaction between Escherichia coli and Penicillium glaucum, showing that the latter was able to completely eliminate the former in a culture containing only these two organisms. Because he was 23 and unknown, the Institut Pasteur did not even acknowledge receipt of his dissertation. He was urged to do more research but his army service prevented him from doing any further work.