Alexander Fleming | Biography, Education, Discovery and Facts

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Sir Alexander Fleming was a great Scottish physicist, Biologist, and pharmacologist, who is known for his discovery of penicillin. It was the world's first antibiotic, which was used to treat bacterial infections and diseases. He also identified the enzyme 'Lysozyme' in 1921. Fleming was the recipient of the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1945.

Born: 6 August 1881, Darvel, United Kingdom
Died: 11 March 1955, London, United Kingdom
Education: Imperial College London, Saint Mary's Campus (1903–1906), MORE
Parents: Hugh Fleming, Grace Stirling Morton
Spouse: Amalia Fleming (m. 1953–1955), Sarah Fleming (m. 1915–1949)
Nationality: British, Scottish
Siblings: Grace Fleming, Jane Fleming, Thomas Fleming, Mary Fleming, Robert Fleming, John Fleming, Hugh Fleming

Early Life

Alexander Fleming was born on August 6, 1881, in Scotland to Hugh Fleming and Grace Stirling Morton. He had seven siblings. He was born into a family of farmers. When he was only 7 years old, he lost his father to health. To support his family, he started to work with his mother on the farm.

Fleming, who was a private in the London Scottish Regiment of the Volunteer Force from 1900 to 1914, had been a member of the rifle club at the medical school. The captain of the club, wishing to retain Fleming in the team, suggested that he join the research department at St Mary's, where he became assistant bacteriologist to Sir Almroth Wright, a pioneer in vaccine therapy and immunology. In 1908, he gained a BSc degree with a gold medal in Bacteriology and became a lecturer at St Mary's until 1914.

Commissioned lieutenant in 1914 and promoted captain in 1917, Fleming served throughout World War I in the Royal Army Medical Corps, and was Mentioned in Dispatches. He and many of his colleagues worked in battlefield hospitals on the Western Front in France. In 1918 he returned to St Mary's Hospital, where he was elected Professor of Bacteriology at the University of London in 1928. In 1951 he was elected the Rector of the University of Edinburgh for a term of three years.

Education

Fleming studied at Loudoun Moor School and Darvel School and moved to London at the age of 13 years to attend the Royal Polytechnic Institution, after receiving scholarships for Kilmarnock Academy. He received an excellent education with the help of his mother. He took a few classes at Regent Street Polytechnic. After finishing his primary education, He followed his elder brother to the St Mary's Hospital Medical Schools on a scholarship. In 1908, he received a gold medal for being the top medical student there.

Personal Life

Flaming was offered a job in the research department at St Mary's as an assistant bacteriologist. He wanted to become a surgeon but started to take an interest in the field of bacteriology. During this time, he made Sir Almroth Edward Wright, who taught Fleming more about vaccines. His mentor, Wright guided Flaming to find medications to build the immune system, from what was available at the time.

At the time of World War I, Fleming served as a captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He worked in the war hospitals and kept researching the effects of antiseptics on the injuries. From his work, he found out that the antiseptic was doing more harm than good, and was also decreasing the patients' immunity which didn't allow them to heal properly. He mentioned that more soldiers were dying from the antiseptic treatment than from the infections they had picked up from injuries in the war. He suggested the solution that to heal the wounds they needed to be kept dry and clean. But, his observations were ignored.

While doing some tests in the laboratory, he discovered an enzyme called 'lysozyme' which is usually present in tears, skin, hair, and nails. Fleming was the first person to find this enzyme, which turned out to be one of the most important discoveries in the history of mankind. In today's medical field, lysozymes are used for treating colds and throat infections and also as a preservative in food.

Invention/Discovery

His next significant discovery was penicillin. Fleming made this discovery entirely by accident. In 1928, Flaming was studying influenza when he stumbled upon the discovery. He was working on some gems which he was growing in his laboratory. After returning from a vacation, he noticed that a mold had started to grow on the plate. The germs were killed by the same mold. At first, he named it 'mold juice'; it was later renamed 'penicillin'. It was a breakthrough in the field of science which could cure many diseases. In 1929, Fleming's findings were published in the British Journal of Experimental Pathology.

Even though Fleming found the mold, he couldn't find a way for its mass production. Until 1940, scientists Haward Florey and Ernst Boris Chain at Oxford continued with Fleming's research. They successfully turned the mold into medicine. The medicine started getting used in hospitals during World War II. Many battlefield infections were treated that earlier would have spread.

Awards and Achievements

Fleming's development of penicillin continues to save millions of people around the World.
The most significant accolade in his scientific career was so winning the Nobel Prize in Medicine with the two other scientists in 1945.
He become an honorary member of every Medical and scientific society of the time.
He became the President of the society for General Microbiology.
He was awarded the Hunterian Professorship by the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Fleming was knighted by King George VI and became Sir Alexander Fleming in 1944.