We review the life and work of this British revolutionary scientist.
Although the vaccines, coming from the hand of Louis Pasteur , and the advances made by Robert Koch , helped to reduce mortality, the truth was that at the beginning of the 20th century there were still many deadly diseases once contracted.
That is why penicillin, a substance capable of killing different types of bacteria, acquired such an important role, since it made it possible to fight against these microorganisms once they were already inside the human body.
Biography of Alexander Fleming
For this reason, Alexander Fleming , who discovered this substance by mistake, has been considered one of the most important men of the last century, and that is why we are going to talk about his life here, marked by several military conflicts and a laborious scientific task. .
early years
Alexander Fleming was born on August 6, 1881, in Darvel, Scotland . He grew up in a peasant family, which could only afford a fairly rudimentary education, but young Alexander knew how to make the most of it.
In 1894, at the age of thirteen, he moved to London with his half-brother who practiced medicine there. While there, Alexander Fleming took two courses at the Polytechnic Institute.
Professional and military life
In 1900 he enlisted in the London Scottish Regiment to participate in the Second Boer War (1899-1902), however, he did not have the opportunity to get to fight because the war ended before he even got to embark.
Thanks to receiving money from an inheritance at the age of twenty, young Fleming was able to afford to study medicine .
In 1903 he won a scholarship to study at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in Paddington. In 1906 he became part of the team of Sir Almroth Wright, a vaccination pioneer, beginning a professional relationship that would last more than forty years.
In 1908 he managed to graduate from the University of London, winning the gold medal for it.
Alexander Fleming continued to enlist in the regiment, which led him to participate in the First World War (1914-1918) as an officer of the Royal Army Medical Corps stationed in France.
He was appointed professor of bacteriology at the University of London, and in 1928 he became a professor there, a position he would hold until 1948.
In 1951 he managed to be elected as rector of the University of Edinburgh, a position he held for three years.
Personal life and last years
In 1915, and following the active World War, Alexander Fleming married an experienced nurse, the Irish Sarah Marion McElroy. They had only one child together, Robert Fleming, who became a family doctor.
Sadly, Sarah Marion passed away in 1949 and Alexander Fleming remarried, this time to a Greek doctor, Amalia Koutsouri-Vourekas, who worked at St. Mary’s, in 1953.
Alexander Fleming died on March 11, 1955 in London , due to a heart attack. He was buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral in the English capital.
Constructions
While stationed in France, Alexander Fleming was able to observe that many badly wounded soldiers died from infections in their wounds . Although some antiseptics were used to treat these injuries, they often made them worse by making the inevitable end much more painful.
First investigations
Fleming found that disinfectants worked very well to kill pathogens on the skin, but were totally contraindicated for treating deeper lesions.
This was because the antiseptics of the time were very harmful to microorganisms found within the human body.
Despite Alexander Fleming’s endorsement by Sir Almroth Wright, many war doctors continued to use harsh antiseptics on soldiers’ wounds, despite being aware that they made injuries worse.
At the end of World War I, Fleming returned to St. Mary’s Hospital, where he did research on bacteria. There he discovered that the nasal mucosa of a cold patient seemed to have an inhibitory effect on the spread of bacteria.
This is considered the first report on lysozyme, an enzyme present in body fluids with antibacterial capacity . However, despite obtaining a lot of substance with this enzyme, extracted mainly from eggs, the antibacterial effect seemed to be reduced, only affecting bacteria that were quite harmless in themselves.
An accidental discovery: penicillin
Alexander Fleming was not an orderly person and, although this quality may seem very inappropriate for a scientist, the truth is that it was what allowed him to make his greatest discovery.
While on vacation for a month in 1928, he carelessly left cultures of staphylococci in a corner of his laboratory. Fleming noticed that one of the cultures had been contaminated by a fungus that had destroyed the surrounding bacteria.
After analyzing the fungus, he discovered that it belonged to the genus Penicillium and the substance it produced was named penicillin in 1929 . It is curious that before giving it that name he chose to call it ‘mould juice’.
Fleming published his discoveries in the Journal of Experimental Pathology , but it did not get the attention it deserved.
Although the first studies of penicillin gave inconclusive results, over time the substance became a real salvation for many wounded soldiers in the now approaching Second World War and began the age of antibiotics as we know them today. in day.
Honors & Awards
Because the discovery of penicillin was a game changer in the treatment of infectious diseases, Alexander Fleming was awarded multiple prizes.
- The laboratory where Fleming discovered penicillin is preserved, being the place where the Fleming Museum is located.
- In 1944 he was knighted by King George VI of the United Kingdom.
- In 1945 Fleming, along with Florey and Chain, received the Nobel Prize for medicine.
- In 1948 he received the Grand Cross of the Order of Alfonso X el Sabio.
And these are just some of all the awards and recognitions he received in life. After his passing, he was widely remembered. His name cannot be missing from biology books when talking about the immune system and disinfection.
In 1999, Time magazine placed him among the 100 most important men of the 20th century , and at least three Swedish magazines in 2000 considered penicillin the greatest discovery of the second millennium.
Bibliographic references
- Elsevier (1964) Nobel Lectures, the Physiology or Medicine 1942–1962. Amsterdam, Países Bajos. Elsevier Publishing Company.
- Rhodes, P. (1985) An Outline History of Medicine. Londres, Reino Unido. Butterworths
- Brown, K. (2004) Penicillin Man: Alexander Fleming and the Antibiotic Revolution, Stroud, Reino Unido. Sutton.
- Rowland, J. (1957) The Penicillin Man: the Story of Sir Alexander Fleming, Lutterworth, Reino Unido. Lutterworth Press.
To the classic question “what do you do?” I always answer “basically I am a psychologist”. In fact, my academic training has revolved around the psychology of development, education and community, a field of study influenced my volunteer activities, as well as my first work experiences in personal services.