Where was alexander fleming born

Through research and experimentation, Fleming discovered a bacteria-destroying mold which he would call penicillin in , paving the way for the use of antibiotics in modern healthcare.

Alexander fleming nobel prize

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in and died on March 11, His parents, Hugh and Grace were farmers, and Alexander was one of their four children. He also had four half-siblings who were the surviving children from his father Hugh's first marriage. Fleming was a member of the Territorial Army and served from to in the London Scottish Regiment.

He entered the medical field in , studying at St. While at St. Mary's, he won the gold medal as the top medical student.

10 interesting facts about alexander fleming

Fleming had planned on becoming a surgeon, but a temporary position in the Inoculation Department at St. Mary's Hospital changed his path toward the then-new field of bacteriology. There, he developed his research skills under the guidance of bacteriologist and immunologist Sir Almroth Edward Wright, whose revolutionary ideas of vaccine therapy represented an entirely new direction in medical treatment.

He worked as a bacteriologist, studying wound infections in a makeshift lab that had been set up by Wright in Boulogne, France. Through his research there, Fleming discovered that antiseptics commonly used at the time were doing more harm than good, as their diminishing effects on the body's immunity agents largely outweighed their ability to break down harmful bacteria — therefore, more soldiers were dying from antiseptic treatment than from the infections they were trying to destroy.

Fleming recommended that, for more effective healing, wounds simply be kept dry and clean. However, his recommendations largely went unheeded. Returning to St.