During Easter 1982 the bacteria that causes most stomach ulcers and can lead to gastric cancer was first discovered.
Robin Warren (left) and Barry Marshall (right) tried and failed to grow the organism several times. It was only when the agar plates were left in the incubator by mistake during the Easter holiday that numerous colonies of the bacterium developed. It became clear that a new bacterial genus had been isolated, which was eventually named Helicobacter pylori.
In 2005, Marshall and Warren were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery:
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ALT Robin Warren and Barry Marshall walk to a press conference at the University of Australia, 4 October 2005, after being awarded the Nobel Prize.