Alexander Fleming
(8/6/1881- 3/11/1955)
Scottish Physician and Microbiologist
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Alexander Fleming is famously known for his somewhat accidental discovery of penicillin in 1928. The first broadly effective antibiotic; saving millions of lives in the process. Prior to that discovery, he discovered lysozyme, a naturally occurring antimicrobial enzyme in animals in 1922.
Dr. Flemming was born in Darvel, Ayrshire, Scotland in 1881 on his father’s farm. At the time of his birth, he had four older half-siblings and two older siblings, later a younger sibling joined the Flemmings. When Fleming was seven his father passed away at the age of 69. Flemming earned scholarships to attend prestigious schools and Universities. He eventually moved to London to earn money and eventually followed in his older brother’s footsteps and worked on becoming a Physician. In 1906 he earned his medical degree from St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School with distinction. Flemming stayed on as a lecturer at St. Mary’s and became interested in bacteriology. He left St. Mary’s in 1914 to serve as a Captain in the Army Medical Corps for WWI.
During his time serving in the Army Medical Corps, Flemming witnessed many soldiers who died of bacterial infections from their wounds and believed many of these could be prevented and sought out a solution. He pointed out that many of the antiseptics being used were actually destroying healthy, natural, antibodies and doing more damage than good. Unfortunately, headed his warnings and continued to use them, resulting in many deaths that may have been prevented. After the war, Flemming returned to St. Mary’s and began deeper microbiological research. Flemming was known for being untidy with his research which also resulted in unusual growths in his samples. It is this untidiness that actually led to his two greatest discoveries.
In 1921 he discovered one of his plates that were kept out became propagated with bacteria from the air. When he added nasal mucus to this sample he discovered that the mucus held off the bacteria and even created a killing zone around the mucus. He began adding other biologicals to see their effects including tears, blood, semen, pus, and egg whites. He presented his findings, the discovery of Lysozyme, at the Royal Acadamy and was politely ignored. That did not stop him or his research assistant at the time, V.D. Allison from continuing on. They were able to use egg whites to harvest large amounts of lysozyme. Unfortunately, it was only able to be effective against small amounts of harmless bacteria and was therapeutically insignificant. Flemming continued on.
Fleming began to explore the properties of staphylococci in 1926. Allowing his Petri dishes to grow the mold and discovering their antibiotic properties. Some say this was a result of Flemming not putting away his bacteria samples prior to going on vacation and discovering them moldy when he returned and all the bacteria dead. It should be noted, however, that he was looking into antibodies to bacteria and this was not just a completely spontaneous accident. Further research found that it wasn’t the mold itself that did this but a product the mold produced for its own protection. That product became our penicillin over time. Thanks to a community of international scientists. Flemming’s work was largely ignored by many. While Flemming was a respected researcher, his discoveries were deemed meaningless for over ten years. Some have attributed this to Flemming’s poor public speaking abilities, bad bureaucratic skills, and his inability to isolate the molecule.
In the early 1940’s, a biochemist named Howard Florey. Florey came across an article that Flemming wrote in 1938. Energized by the article he assigned Ernst Chain and Edward Abraham to isolate the molecule. Shortly after, they proposed the first molecular structure of the antibiotic while at Oxford. It took months and large quantities of mold to produce one dose of penicillin but they continued forward. Over the next few years many scientists, including, Mary Hunt, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodkin, and Norman Heatley all contributed to the production of and uses for Flemming’s penicillin. Flemming was reportedly upset when Robert D. Coghill and Andrew J. Moyer took out a patent for processing penicillin in the US in 1944. It was his desire for it to remain free and resented people profiting off of it in other countries. The mass production and distribution were a lifesaver for the allied forces during WWII.
Flemming and others continued to research with penicillin and found it to be effective against many diseases including, scarlet fever, meningitis, and gonorrhea. Early on in his research he also identified penicillin resistance that can form from too low of doses that fail to eradicate the initial bacteria and allow it to mutate. He emphasized this in his Nobel lecture after winning the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945. In his later life, Flemming was awarded many distinctions and prizes, including being knighted. By most accounts, he remained humble and emphasized the work of others who took his discovery across the finish line and impacted all of humanity by doing so. While not as widely used today as in the past, penicillin continues to make a difference around the world. Flemming’s contributions and influence on medicine are immense. Penicillin is often listed as one of the most important discoveries by humans.
References:
Allison VD. Personal recollections of Sir Almroth Wright and Sir Alexander Fleming. Ulster Med J. 1974;43(2):89-98. PMID: 4612919; PMCID: PMC2385475
Alexander Fleming Discovery and development of penicillin – landmark. American Chemical Society. (n.d.). https://www.acs.org/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/flemingpenicillin.html
Brief Life History of Hugh. FamilySearch.org. (n.d.). https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LCLY-XJW/hugh-fleming-1819-1888
Kean, S. (2023, October 10). The forgotten mother of penicillin . Science History Institute.
https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/disappearing-pod/the-forgotten-mother-of-penicillin/The nobel prize in physiology or medicine 1945. NobelPrize.org. (n.d.). https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1945/fleming/biographical/
Suszkiw, J. (n.d.). The enduring mystery of “Moldy mary.” Tellus. https://tellus.ars.usda.gov/stories/articles/enduring-mystery-moldy-mary
Tan, S. Y., & Tatsumura, Y. (2015, July). Alexander Fleming (1881-1955): Discoverer of Penicillin. Singapore medical journal. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4520913/
UNK. (n.d.). Alexander Fleming. Lemelson-MIT. https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/alexander-fleming
