Alexander Fleming
Discovered First Antibiotic: Penicillin
Life of Alexander Fleming
In the 1920's he was still searching for an effective antiseptic when he accidentally stumbled upon it. He was cleaning up some old samples when he came across a dish with mold in it, which was odd because the staph bacteria that had been under the mold was killed.
The mold turned out to be from the penicillin family and he worked with it for years but it was difficult to form and a better job for a chemist. During WWII the sample was taken up by 2 other men which finished the discovery and formation and Howard Florey, his partner, Ernst Chain, and Fleming were all credited for the discovery and were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1945. This break through was super important because it saved and is continuing to save lives everyday. Fleming later died on March 11th, 1955.
Citations
"Sir Alexander Fleming - Biographical". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 16 Sep 2015. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/fleming-bio.html>
"Alexander Fleming Biography Biologist, Scientist (1881–1955)." Bio. A&E
Television Networks, n.d. Web. 16 Sept. 2015. <http://www.biography.com/
people/alexander-fleming-9296894>.
"Alexander Fleming 1881 - 1955." Wisconsin Public Television. N.p., n.d. Web. 16
Sept. 2015. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/
bmflem.html>.
"Why You Might Not Be Allergic to Penicillin after All." ABC News. N.p., 7 Nov.
2014. Web. 16 Sept. 2015. <http://abcnews.go.com/Health/
allergic-penicillin/story?id=26761041>.
"Penicillin." Wikipedia. N.p., 5 July 2015. Web. 16 Sept. 2015.