Today in History: Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin

The following are some of the major events to have occurred on September 15:

1916 – Military tanks, originated by Sir Ernest Swinton, went into action for the first time as part of the Allied offensive at the Battle of the Somme.

1928 - Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin while studying influenza.

1949 – Konrad Adenauer was elected first chancellor of West Germany and Theodor Heuss first president.

1973 – King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden died aged 90 and was succeeded by his grandson Carl XVI Gustav.

2000 – Opening ceremony of Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.

2001 – President George W. Bush said for the first time that the United States was ‘at war’, singling out Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden, based in Afghanistan, as a prime suspect behind the Sept. 11 attacks.

2004 – Johnny Ramone, the lead guitarist with the influential U.S. punk rock band the Ramones, died aged 55.

2004 – National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman announces NHL owners carried out their threat to lockout players, shutting down the league.

2005 – Colombian bee keeper attempts to break a world record, covering his body with approximately 500,000 bees

2007 – Cooks in Caracas, Venezuela attempt to set world record preparing “sancocho” traditional stew.

2008 – Pink Floyd keyboard player and founding member Richard Wright, who co-wrote five songs on “Dark Side of the Moon”, which was released in 1973, died.

2008 – Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the largest in U.S. history.