Alexander Fleming: The Father of Antibiotics

Summary

Alexander Fleming, born in 1881 in Scotland, is renowned for his accidental discovery of penicillin, the world's first antibiotic. Despite humble beginnings, Fleming's academic excellence led him to St. Mary's Hospital Medical School. His early research on lysozyme and nasal mucus laid the groundwork for his serendipitous finding of penicillin's antibacterial properties in 1928. However, it was the collaborative efforts of scientists like Howard Florey and Ernst Chain that transformed penicillin into a practical medicine, earning them all a shared Nobel Prize in 1945. Fleming's legacy also includes his prescient warnings about antibiotic resistance, a challenge that remains critical today.

Takeaways

• 🔬 Alexander Fleming is renowned for his discovery of penicillin, the world's first antibiotic, which revolutionized medicine.
• 🌾 Born in a rural Scottish farm, Fleming's early life was deeply connected with nature, which fostered his love and respect for it.
• 🏆 Fleming's academic excellence earned him a scholarship to Kilmarnock Academy and later led him to study medicine in London.
• 🏥 After serving in the Second Boer War, Fleming used an inheritance to pursue medical studies, influenced by his brother's successful medical practice.
• 🎓 Graduating with distinction from St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School, Fleming began his career in medical research under the guidance of Sir Almroth Wright.
• 🏅 Fleming's initial discovery of lysozyme, an enzyme with antimicrobial properties, laid the groundwork for his later work on penicillin.
• 🌿 The accidental discovery of penicillin occurred when mold spores contaminated one of Fleming's Petri dishes, demonstrating its antibacterial properties.
• 🤝 The development of penicillin into a practical medicine was a collaborative effort involving many scientists, notably Howard Florey and Ernst Chain.
• 🏛️ Fleming's work on penicillin was recognized with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, shared with Florey and Chain for their contributions.
• 💊 Despite the accolades, Fleming warned about the potential for antibiotic resistance, a problem that remains critical in modern medicine.

Q & A

Who is Alexander Fleming and why is he famous?

Alexander Fleming is renowned as the discoverer of penicillin, the world's first antibiotic, which revolutionized medicine and has saved countless lives.

What was Fleming's background before his discovery?

Fleming came from a humble farming family in Scotland, and his academic potential was recognized early on, leading to education at Kilmarnock Academy and later at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School.

What was the myth about Fleming's education being funded by the Churchill family?

The myth suggests that Fleming's education was paid for by the Churchill family as a gesture of gratitude for saving young Winston Churchill from drowning. However, this story is unfounded and dismissed by Fleming himself as a 'wondrous fable.'

What was Fleming's initial career path before focusing on medical research?

Before becoming a researcher, Fleming worked in a shipping office and also served in the Second Boer War. His career path shifted towards medicine after receiving an inheritance that allowed him to quit his job and pursue studies.

How did Fleming's discovery of lysozyme precede his discovery of penicillin?

Fleming discovered lysozyme, an enzyme with antimicrobial properties found in human bodily secretions, while researching nasal mucus. This discovery showcased the potential of substances with natural antimicrobial properties, leading him to later discover penicillin.

Can you describe the circumstances that led to Fleming's discovery of penicillin?

Fleming's discovery of penicillin was accidental. He left Petri dishes with bacterial cultures near an open window during a family vacation, and upon returning, he found that mold had contaminated one of the dishes, killing the bacteria around it.

Who were the key figures involved in the development of penicillin after Fleming's initial discovery?

After Fleming's discovery, the development of penicillin into a practical medicine involved many scientists, including Howard Florey, Ernst Chain, Norman Heatley, and Edward Abraham, who worked at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology at Oxford.

What was the significance of the Nobel Prize awarded to Fleming and others for their work on penicillin?

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945, awarded to Alexander Fleming, Howard Florey, and Ernst Chain, recognized their groundbreaking work in transforming penicillin into a life-saving antibiotic, marking a significant milestone in medical history.

What were Fleming's concerns in his later years regarding the use of antibiotics?

In his later years, Fleming warned about the potential for resistance to antibiotics, emphasizing the importance of using the correct doses and durations to prevent the development of resistant strains of bacteria.

How did Fleming's personal life influence his work and legacy?

Fleming's personal life, including the loss of his first wife and his subsequent marriage to Dr. Amalia Koutsouri-Vourekas, seemed to influence his dedication to his work. His legacy is marked not only by his scientific achievements but also by his commitment to addressing the challenges of antibiotic resistance.

Outlines

00:00

🔬 Early Life and Discovery of Penicillin

Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin, was born in Scotland in 1881 and grew up on a farm, developing a deep respect for nature. After his father's death, he continued his education, eventually receiving a scholarship to Kilmarnock Academy. His academic excellence led him to St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School, where he was influenced by Sir Almroth Wright's vaccine therapy ideas. Despite initial intentions to become a surgeon, Fleming pursued a career in medical research. His discovery of penicillin was accidental, finding that mold killed bacteria in a Petri dish he had left uncovered. This serendipitous find laid the foundation for what would become the first antibiotic.

05:00

🏥 Medical Career and Lysozyme Discovery

After graduating with distinction, Fleming began his medical research career, initially focusing on becoming a surgeon. His skills in the rifle club at St. Mary’s led to a career shift into research under Sir Almroth Wright. Fleming became known for administering Salvarsan, an early treatment for syphilis. During World War I, he observed the negative effects of antiseptics on infected wounds and advocated for cleaner wound care. His discovery of lysozyme, an enzyme with antimicrobial properties found in bodily secretions, was significant but had limited medical impact. This research, however, set the stage for his later work on penicillin.

10:03

🌿 The Accidental Discovery and Early Research on Penicillin

Fleming's discovery of penicillin was truly accidental. After leaving Petri dishes uncovered during a vacation, he returned to find one contaminated with mold that had killed nearby bacterial colonies. He identified the mold as Penicillium notatum and initially referred to the substance as 'mold juice' before renaming it penicillin. Despite its promising antibacterial properties, early attempts to use penicillin were hindered by its instability and impurity. Fleming's work in the 1930s did not achieve a breakthrough in mass-producing or stabilizing penicillin, which was crucial for its medical application.

15:03

🏆 The Path to the Nobel Prize and Legacy

The development of penicillin into a practical medicine was a collaborative effort. Howard Florey and Ernst Chain at the Dunn School, Oxford, played pivotal roles in isolating and stabilizing penicillin for human use. Their work, along with that of other scientists, led to the first human treatment and eventual industrial production of penicillin. Despite the contributions of many, Fleming's initial discovery earned him, along with Florey and Chain, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945. Fleming spent his later years warning about antibiotic resistance, a problem still relevant today. He passed away in 1955, leaving behind a profound legacy in medical science.

Keywords

💡Penicillin

Penicillin is an antibiotic derived from the Penicillium fungus, known for its ability to kill or inhibit certain bacteria. In the context of the video, it is the central discovery by Alexander Fleming, which revolutionized medicine and earned him the title 'Father of Antibiotics.' The script describes how Fleming's accidental discovery of penicillin's antibacterial properties led to its development as the world's first antibiotic, with profound implications for treating infections.

💡Antibiotics

Antibiotics are substances that can kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria and other microorganisms. The video's theme revolves around the discovery and development of antibiotics, particularly penicillin. Fleming's work with penicillin laid the foundation for the modern era of antibiotics, which have become crucial in medical treatments for a wide range of bacterial infections.

💡Staphylococcus

Staphylococcus is a genus of bacteria that can cause various infections in humans, such as abscesses, sore throats, and boils. In the script, Fleming was studying staphylococcus when he discovered penicillin, which proved effective against this harmful bacterium. The discovery of penicillin's efficacy against staphylococcus highlights its potential as a broad-spectrum antibiotic.

💡Lysozyme

Lysozyme is an enzyme with antimicrobial properties that Fleming discovered in human bodily secretions and egg whites. Although it was not as potent as penicillin, the discovery of lysozyme was a significant step in Fleming's research and demonstrated the potential of natural substances to combat bacteria. The script mentions lysozyme as a precursor to Fleming's more famous discovery.

💡Mold

In the video script, mold refers to the Penicillium notatum, the specific strain that contaminated one of Fleming's Petri dishes and led to the discovery of penicillin. The mold's ability to kill bacteria in its vicinity was a serendipitous finding that changed the course of medical history. The term 'mold' is crucial as it represents the accidental catalyst for Fleming's groundbreaking discovery.

💡Antiseptic

Antiseptics are substances that are applied to living tissue to reduce the possibility of infection. The script discusses how Fleming observed that certain antiseptics used during World War I actually worsened infected wounds by killing the body's own immune cells. This observation led to his advocacy for cleaner wound management, which later informed his work with penicillin.

💡Immunology

Immunology is the study of the immune system and how it fights diseases. Fleming's early exposure to vaccine therapies and his work under Sir Almroth Wright, a leading immunologist, influenced his career. The video emphasizes how this background in immunology was instrumental in Fleming's approach to discovering and understanding the properties of penicillin.

💡Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize is an international award acknowledged as one of the most prestigious in the world, especially in the fields of medicine, physics, and chemistry. The script mentions that Fleming, along with Howard Florey and Ernst Chain, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 for the discovery and development of penicillin. This recognition underscores the immense impact of their work on global health.

💡Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotic resistance refers to the ability of bacteria to resist the effects of antibiotics, reducing their effectiveness. Fleming was one of the first to warn about this issue, as highlighted in the script. His prescient concerns about the misuse of antibiotics leading to resistance are relevant today, as antibiotic resistance is a significant challenge in modern medicine.

💡Medical Research

Medical research involves the study and investigation aimed at improving healthcare through the development of new medical knowledge, practices, and products. The video script details Fleming's extensive medical research, which led to the discovery of penicillin and his ongoing work to understand and improve its medical applications, exemplifying the critical role of research in advancing medical treatments.

Highlights

Alexander Fleming is famously known for the discovery of penicillin, the world's first antibiotic.

Fleming's discovery was not purely accidental; it was part of a larger scientific journey.

Born in 1881 in Scotland, Fleming grew up with a deep respect for nature, influenced by his rural upbringing.

Fleming's academic potential was recognized early, leading to a scholarship at Kilmarnock Academy.

After an inheritance, Fleming chose to pursue medical studies rather than continuing a job he disliked.

The myth about Fleming's education being funded by the Churchill family is debunked.

Fleming's early research focused on vaccine therapies under the influence of Sir Almroth Wright.

He became known for treating syphilis with the new drug Salvarsan, or arsphenamine.

Fleming's observations during World War I led to insights on the ineffectiveness of certain antiseptics.

The discovery of lysozyme, an enzyme with antimicrobial properties, was Fleming's first significant breakthrough.

Penicillin was discovered accidentally when mold killed bacteria in an unattended Petri dish.

The development of penicillin into a practical medicine was a collaborative effort involving many scientists.

Fleming faced initial skepticism and difficulty in isolating and stabilizing penicillin for medical use.

Howard Florey and Ernst Chain at Oxford University played crucial roles in making penicillin a viable treatment.

The first human recipient of penicillin was a policeman named Albert Alexander in 1941.

Fleming, Florey, and Chain were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945.

Fleming spent his career at St. Mary's Hospital and became a prominent figure in the field of microbiology.

He warned about the potential for antibiotic resistance, a problem that remains relevant today.

Fleming's personal life included the loss of his first wife and a second marriage to a colleague.

Alexander Fleming passed away in 1955, but his legacy in medical science continues to be profound.

Transcripts

Alexander Fleming: Father of Antibiotics Scientists are not exactly the most well-known

people in the world, and yet there are a few names among them which have established themselves

firmly in the public consciousness.

Alexander Fleming is one of those names, inexorably linked with the discovery of penicillin.

Even people who have never studied science or medicine in their lives may have still

heard the story of how Fleming’s messiness accidentally yielded the first antibiotic

in the world.

How he left behind in his lab some Petri dishes with bacterial cultures and, when he came

back, one of them developed mold which killed the bacteria and the rest, as they say, is

history.

Well, maybe not just yet.

As we are about to discover, the real story was a lot longer and more complicated and

definitely involved a lot more people.

History might have preferred to condense it down to one manageable, bitesize chunk, but

today, however, we are looking at the full course meal.

Early Years & Education Alexander Fleming came from humble beginnings.

He was born on August 6, 1881, at Lochfield Farm near the small town of Darvel in Ayrshire,

Scotland.

He was the seventh of eight children of Hugh Fleming, with the last four coming from his

second marriage to Grace Stirling Morton.

Fleming’s father was a farmer.

His mother came from a farming family.

He grew up on a large, remote 800-acre farm that was a mile away from the nearest house.

He and his siblings spent their earliest years roaming through the nearby valleys, streams,

and moors, ensuring that the future man of science will always have a fondness and respect

for nature.

The family suffered a major setback in 1888 when Hugh Fleming passed away.

His eldest son from his first marriage took over the day-to-day operations of the farm.

As for Alexander Fleming, or Alec, as the rest of the family called him, he began his

education at Louden Moor School, a small place that only had a dozen or so students of different

ages who were all taught in the same classroom.

From there, he moved on to Darvel School which was a bit more advanced, but required young

Alec to walk eight miles each day.

It did not take long for other people to recognize Fleming’s academic potential and, at age

11, he was awarded a scholarship to Kilmarnock Academy, a state-funded secondary school and

only one of two schools in the whole United Kingdom (the other being the prestigious Eton

College) which had educated two Nobel Prize laureates.

Fleming spent two years at this academy but, when he was 13, he got the opportunity to

continue his studies in London.

One of his older brothers, Tom, had moved to the city to study medicine and later opened

a practice there.

Soon enough, four of his younger siblings, Alec included, joined him and lived together

in London.

Fleming enrolled in the Royal Polytechnic Institution where, again, he impressed with

his book-learning and acumen.

He was skipped ahead two years and finished school when he was just 16.

From there, he needed a job and found work with a shipping office.

He spent four years at that place, but later recalled that he did not enjoy the experience.

Going to Med School

In 1900, Alec found a much-needed break from the work he disliked by joining two of his

brothers in the Second Boer War in South Africa.

All were part of a Volunteer infantry unit called the London Scottish Regiment.

However, they never actually saw any action before the war ended and mostly spent their

time honing their shooting and swimming skills.

By the time he returned to London, a stroke of good luck befell Fleming.

In 1901, when he was 20 years old, he received an inheritance of roughly 250 pounds from

his uncle, John Fleming.

It wasn’t a vast fortune or anything, but it was enough for him to quit his 9-to-5 job

and continue his studies.

At the encouragement of his older brother Tom who now had a thriving medical practice,

Fleming enrolled in med school.

There is a myth which is still popular today which states that Fleming’s education was

paid for by the Churchill family because Fleming’s father once saved Winston Churchill from drowning

as a boy.

In gratitude, Winston’s father, Lord Randolph Churchill, promised to give young Alexander

the same kind of education that his own son would receive.

The story continued decades later, during World War II, when Churchill fell gravely

ill due to pneumonia, but his life was saved, once again, by a Fleming thanks to the penicillin

developed by Alexander.

This is quite a fanciful tale and it most likely still persists today because it involves

two popular, larger-than-life figures of their time.

Unfortunately, there is no evidence to back it up and Fleming himself dismissed it as

nothing but a “wondrous fable.”

There is nothing on the Churchill side to lend it credence, either, and, as you might

suspect, the life of the prime minister has been extensively documented.

The simple truth is that Fleming obtained an inheritance and, because he had excellent

scores in his examinations, he could, more or less, have his pick of colleges.

He chose St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in Paddington because it was close to his

home and because he once played water polo against their team.

In 1906, he graduated from the school with distinction and began his career in medical

research.

This was not his original choice and, in fact, he made it through a strange set of circumstances.

At first, Fleming intended to become a surgeon.

As it happened, due to his time in the Boer War, Alec was quite a skilled marksman and

one of the top shooters on St. Mary’s rifle club team.

He was so valued, in fact, that the club captain did not want him to leave which is what would

have happened if Fleming became a surgeon.

Instead, he convinced the Scotsman to pursue a career in research at St. Mary’s and even

got him a position working under Sir Almroth Wright.

That way everybody was happy - the rifle club kept one of its top sharpshooters while Fleming

got to study under one of the world’s leading immunologists.

Early Research Here, Fleming was exposed to Wright’s ideas

on vaccine therapies which have, undoubtedly, influenced his entire career.

In 1908 he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Bacteriology and became a lecturer

at St. Mary’s.

A few years later, Fleming developed a reputation as the go-to guy in London if you were rich

and had syphilis.

He began administering Salvarsan, a new drug which is known today as arsphenamine.

It was created in the lab of German physician and Nobel Prize laureate Paul Ehrlich and,

back then, it was the first effective treatment against syphilis.

Fleming was introduced to the drug by Wright and amassed a tidy sum of money by being one

of the main proponents of Salvarsan in England.

Fleming’s practice and his research progressed along smoothly until World War I broke out.

He enlisted and served with the Royal Army Medical Corps as a captain.

During his time there, he continued his research into bacteriology in a makeshift laboratory

in Boulogne, France.

He saw many soldiers die due to infected wounds and couldn’t help but notice that the antiseptics

they were using tended to make the injuries worse.

He studied this problem and wrote an article which was subsequently published in the medical

journal The Lancet in 1917.

Fleming argued that chemicals such as carbolic acid which were used as antiseptic were only

efficient in certain cases such as treating surface cuts.

When dealing with deeper wounds, the chemicals did more harm than good as they killed the

body’s own immunity agents such as leukocytes and minimized its ability to protect itself

from infections.

According to his observations, anaerobic bacteria thrived in deep wounds despite the presence

of antiseptics.

Fleming opined that, in such cases, it was best to simply keep the wound clean and dry

and let nature take its course.

His beliefs were echoed by his mentor, Sir Almroth Wright, who also argued that deep

wounds should only be cleaned using a simple saline solution but, unfortunately, their

recommendations were mostly ignored by field doctors for the rest of

the war.

The Discovery of Lysozyme Even

though Fleming is renowned for his discovery of penicillin, he actually made a different

breakthrough earlier in his career.

This one, however, did not end up having a huge impact on medicine so it tends to get

left behind.

After he returned home from the war, Fleming continued his studies into substances with

microbial properties and made an interesting discovery while researching nasal mucus.

The exact circumstances are somewhat murky as different versions of the story were repeated.

Some say he obtained the mucus sample from a patient with a heavy cold.

Others say that Fleming himself was working with a cold and had a “Eureka!” moment

and decided to investigate his own nasal drippings.

And some say that he simply got lucky and a bit of his snot dripped down onto a Petri

dish while he was in the lab.

Regardless of how it got there, Fleming wanted to see what effect the mucus would have on

bacteria.

He mixed the two together and let them sit for a few weeks.

When he came back to investigate, Fleming discovered that the nasal substance completely

killed the bacterial colonies.

Fleming realized that the secretion must have contained an antimicrobial component which

was part of the human body’s innate immune system.

It was an enzyme which Fleming isolated and named lysozyme.

As he kept researching this new substance, he found that it was present in many other

bodily secretions, including tears, saliva, skin, and hair.

Subsequently, the bacteriologist discovered that lysozyme was also present in egg whites

which meant that huge quantities could be isolated with relative ease.

This could have been a major boon for the field of immunology but, unfortunately, the

enzyme was mostly effective against harmless, airborne bacteria rather than anything dangerous.

Today, it is mostly used as a food and wine preservative.

Even so, it showed Fleming the potential in this kind of research and set him on track

to make a discovery that will revolutionize medicine forever.

Penicillin - A Fortuitous Accident Fleming once wrote: “When I woke up just

after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn’t plan to revolutionize all medicine

by discovering the world’s first antibiotic, or bacteria killer.

But I suppose that was exactly what I did.”

The scientist was looking for a better alternative to lysozyme.

The latter showed itself worthy as a proof of concept, but surely there had to be another

substance out there somewhere which was more efficient against dangerous bacteria.

To that end, Fleming had begun experimenting and studying the properties of a bacterium

called staphylococcus, a nasty piece of work that could cause abscesses, sore throats,

and boils.

Fortunately for Fleming (and the rest of the world), the bacteriologist was not exactly

a tidy man.

In August 1928, he went on a family vacation with his first wife, a nurse named Sarah McElroy,

and their only child, his 4-year-old boy named Robert.

He grouped up all of his Petri dishes which contained bacterial colonies and left them

near an open window in his lab.

In some versions of the story, this felicitous carelessness was ascribed to one of his assistants,

not to Fleming himself.

When the doctor returned on September 3, he noticed that one dish had been contaminated

with mold spores.

This annoyed him at first, but then he saw that there were no bacterial colonies near

the mold.

The latter had killed all the bacteria it came into contact with and inhibited its growth.

Fleming isolated the mold and identified it as a rare strain of Penicillium notatum.

He gave his new creation the unfortunate name of “mold juice” and it wasn’t until

several months later that he decided that a rebranding might be in order and came up

with penicillin.

Unappealing name aside, Fleming’s “mold juice” immediately showed great promise

as it proved effective not only against staphylococcus, but other harmful bacteria such as meningococcus,

streptococcus, and the diphtheria bacillus.

The first antibiotic had been created and the world now had a potential cure for pneumonia,

gonorrhea, meningitis, scarlet fever, and other infectious diseases.

From Mold to Medicine Actually, not so fast.

In reality, the process of taking penicillin and turning it from a simple mold into a practical

medicine was long and difficult and involved a lot of work from many different scientists.

Fleming’s role is undeniable, but to give him sole credit for ushering in the era of

antibiotics is doing a disservice to many other brilliant minds.

First off, let’s talk a bit about his precursors.

Fleming was the first to isolate and identify the bacteria-killing mold and treat other

people with it, but the phenomenon itself had been around for millennia.

Ancient cultures like the Egyptians were noted for the practice of applying poultices made

from moldy bread on wounds to prevent infections.

In modern times, an English physician named Sir John Burdon-Sanderson might have been

the first to observe and report that certain molds from the Penicillium family could inhibit

the growth of bacteria back in 1871.

Inspired by his work, Joseph Lister, the father of antiseptic surgery, established a year

later that Penicillium glaucum had the potential to kill off bacteria, but never published

his findings.

Many other scientists came before the Scottish doctor but, for whatever reasons, they were

never able to take their own research to conclusion.

Even Fleming himself found it difficult, at first, to make others care about his discovery.

In 1928, he isolated the mold, he called it penicillin and began treating people with

it.

In June of the following year, Fleming published his findings in The British Journal of Experimental

Pathology to a very lukewarm and uninterested reception.

Back then, people could not yet see how antibiotics could change the medical world and this included

Fleming himself.

In the article, he made few mentions regarding penicillin’s potential medical applications

and, instead, focused on how it could be used in a mixed culture to separate bacteria sensitive

to the mold from bacteria that had no reaction to it.

The main problem was that Fleming discovered early on how difficult it was to work with

penicillin.

He had two assistants, Stuart Craddock and Frederick Ridley, who were given the arduous

task of finding ways to isolate pure penicillin from the fungus which produced it.

However, the substance was unstable and they were only able to produce solutions of crude

material.

For a while, it looked like manufacturing large quantities of penicillin would have

been nigh-impossible.

The Long Road to the Nobel Prize During the 1930s, Fleming continued his research

on penicillin, but never made that breakthrough that would have turned it into the life-saving

drug we know today.

The same problems remained all throughout the decade - the penicillin was too impure

and could not be mass produced.

That breakthrough did happen, eventually, but it came from a team at Oxford led by Australian

pharmacologist Howard Florey.

His group worked in a research department named the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology,

better known simply as the Dunn School.

They started their work on penicillin in 1939, with the main goal being to isolate and stabilize

enough of it to be usable on humans.

Besides Florey, some of the other key members of the Oxford team were German biochemist

Ernst Chain, English biologist Norman Heatley and English biochemist Edward Abraham.

However, their program needed so much penicillium mold filtrate for animal experiments and clinical

trials that, soon enough, pretty much the entire Dunn School worked on the project so

we could never fully give credit to everyone who played a part in developing the life-saving

antibiotic.

Their efforts were also slowed down by another “minor issue” called World War II so it

wasn’t like they had an abundance of manpower and resources.

In fact, to save on space and materials, they began growing bacteria cultures in whatever

vessels they had on hand such as bathtubs, food tins, and even bedpans.

Edward Abraham correctly deduced the structure of penicillin, at roughly the same time as

American chemist Robert Burns Woodward.

Norman Heatley suggested that larger volumes of penicillin could be produced by extracting

it into amyl acetate and then back into water.

Chain and Florey discovered how to isolate and concentrate the germ-killing agent found

in penicillin.

In 1940, the team used penicillin to protect mice from streptococcus.

A year later, a policeman named Albert Alexander became the first human to receive the Oxford

penicillin in order to treat a bad infection he had inside his mouth.

Although Alexander made a quick recovery in just a few days, they didn’t have enough

of the drug to deal with the infection completely and it returned in a few days and killed him.

Not an auspicious start, but subsequent patients fared better and showed the world the value

of penicillin as medicine.

The challenge of scaling up production of the drug to industrial quantities was eventually

taken up by British and American pharmaceutical companies, particularly the Northern Regional

Research Laboratory (NRRL) in Peoria, Illinois, a subsidiary of the United States Department

of Agriculture.

As you can see, there were many individuals and institutions that played a vital role

in the development of penicillin as an antibiotic.

For their work, they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945, although

it only recognized Alexander Fleming, Howard Florey, and Ernst Chain due to one of the

foundation’s most controversial rules of awarding a Nobel Prize to a maximum of three

people.

Later Years Fleming spent his entire professional career

as a researcher at St. Mary’s and, in 1946, succeeded his mentor Almroth Wright as head

of the hospital’s Inoculation Department which was renamed to the Wright-Fleming Institute.

He also served as President of the Society for General Microbiology, rector of Edinburgh

University, a member of the Pontifical Academy of Science, and even as Honorary Chief Doy-gei-tau

of the Native American Kiowa tribe.

In addition to these, Fleming also received pretty much every honorary medal and doctorate

and award and all other scientific honors under the sun.

For his part, Fleming always made sure to acknowledge the efforts of Florey and his

team in making penicillin a worldwide commodity, but the general public and the media seemed

determined to lavish their praise solely on the Scottish microbiologist, probably because

the story of his “happy accident” was more enjoyable.

In his later years, Fleming concentrated his efforts on warning people about a problem

that we face right now - resistance to antibiotics.

Both he and Almroth Wright realized early on that microbes could very easily become

resistant to penicillin if the wrong doses were used or for too short a period, with

each subsequent generation of microorganisms being more resistant than the last.

He wrote several papers on the matter and even mentioned it during his speech for the

Nobel Prize.

In his private life, Fleming was quiet and unassuming.

His son Robert followed in his father’s footsteps, studied medicine and became a general

practitioner.

His first wife, Sarah, passed away in 1949 and, unsurprisingly, this had a profound effect

on Fleming who buried himself in his work and spent a lot of time alone, in his laboratory,

until the late hours of the night.

Fleming’s life brightened up considerably when he met Dr. Amalia Koutsouri-Vourekas

who came to work at St. Mary’s.

The two fell in love and married in 1953, but their happiness was short-lived.

Alexander Fleming died suddenly two years later, on March 11, 1955, of coronary thrombosis.

He had been feeling poorly over the last few weeks, but was convinced that it was only

gastric distress.

When he started feeling nauseous on the day of his death, his wife wanted to call a doctor,

but he insisted that it wasn’t necessary.

He had a heart attack minutes later and was subsequently buried at St Paul’s Cathedral.

Alexander Fleming’s life may have been extinguished in moments, but he left behind a life-saving

legacy that will live on forever, one that few people in history could ever hope

to match.