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1 Dollar - Elizabeth II 4th Portrait - Howard Florey - Silver Proof
| Issuer | Royal Australian Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 1998 |
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| Technique | Proof |
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| Obverse lettering | ELIZABETH II AUSTRALIA 1998 IRB |
| Reverse description | Finely detailed three-quarter facing bust portrait of Sir Howard Florey, the Australian Nobel laureate pharmacologist, depicted wearing spectacles and a surgical collar, occupying the left and central portion of the field. To the upper right, the denomination numeral 1 is prominently displayed above the word DOLLAR in bold capital letters, with the engraver's monogram visible below. The inscription HOWARD FLOREY CENTENARY arcs along the lower exergue in italic lettering, commemorating the centenary of his birth. The deeply mirrored proof fields accentuate the frosted sculptural relief of the portrait against the polished background. |
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Howard Florey, born in Adelaide in 1898, shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for developing penicillin into a clinically usable drug — a centenary this coin directly commemorates. The practical work of purifying and testing the antibiotic was largely done in Oxford, under Florey's direction, during the early years of World War II, when the British and American governments funded mass production specifically to treat battlefield wounds.
Florey remains one of the most consequential Australians in scientific history, yet spent most of his career abroad — a biographical irony that generated considerable national ambivalence during his lifetime.