Sir Alexander Fleming
was born at Lochfield near Darvel in Ayrshire, Scotland on August 6th,
1881. He attended Louden Moor School, Darvel School, and Kilmarnock
Academy before moving to London where he attended the Polytechnic. He gained M.B., B.S., (London), with Gold Medal in 1908.
Alexander Fleming is best known for his discovery of penicillin in 1928, which started the antibiotic revolution. For his discovery of penicillin, he was awarded a share of the 1945 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.
In 1928 Alexander Fleming noticed that a culture plate of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria had become contaminated by a fungus. The mold, later identified as Penicillium notatum (now classified as P. chrysogenum), had inhibited the growth of the bacteria. He later established that the mold prevented bacterial growth because it produced an antibiotic, penicillin.
The first name for penicillin was “mould juice.” Alexander Fleming accidentally discovered the antibiotic in 1928, when he came back from a vacation and found that a green mold called Pennicilium notatum had contaminated Petri dishes in his lab … and were killing some of the bacteria
An uncovered Petri dish near an open window became contaminated with mold. Fleming realized that the bacteria near the mold were dying. He isolated the mold and identified it as Penicillium genus, which he found to be effective against all Gram-positive pathogens. ... He named this “mold juice” penicillin.
Today penicillin is synthesized in a lab using penicillium mold, which naturally produces penicillin. The mold is grown with sugars and other ingredients through deep-tank fermentation until the penicillin is able to be separated from the mold.
The discovery of penicillin, one of the major events in the history of medicine. He grew more of the mould, naming it penicillin from its Latin name Penicillium. Fleming discovered the mould was effective against bacteria that caused diseases such as anthrax, meningitis and diphtheria.
It is impossible to know how many lives have been saved by penicillin but it is estimated that penicillin saved 80.000. 000 to 200.000. 000 lives. Penicillin has saved, and is still saving, millions of people around the world.
Alexander Fleming,, died suddenly at his home in Chelsea, London, after a heart attack. He was 73.
FLEMING
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