Which came first? · Tricky
Which came first: Penicillin or the traffic light?
The traffic light came first, in 1868 (first one installed). Penicillin followed 60 years later, in 1928 (discovered).
- Second1928
Penicillin
medicine · discoveredIn September 1928 Alexander Fleming noticed by chance that mould contaminating a bacterial culture seemed to kill the bacteria.
- First1868
The traffic light
invention · first one installedLondon's first traffic light was worked by a police constable and exploded a few weeks after it went up.
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All which-came-first pairs · About Older Than You Think · Quiz games
Years from Wikidata, each checked against the item’s English Wikipedia article on 2026-10-18. A year stands for what its label says: a founding, a first patent, a premiere.