Childhood of Alexander Fleming:
Alexander Fleming was born August 6, 1881 and died March 11, 1955. When Alexander grew up he became involved in many years of research producing the wonder drug we call penicillin. Fleming, known as Alec was born in Lochfield, Scotland where his father was a Scots farmer. After his father's death Alec's eldest brother took over operation of the large farm while one of the other brothers, Tom Fleming, left home to study medicine.

After Tom finished school and opened his own practice, four of the Fleming brothers, along with one sister, shared living quarters in London. Alec was only fourteen years old when he left home to live with his siblings. In London, he finished school, and later worked at a shipping firm.

Alec and his siblings inherited two hundred fifty pounds each from the death of their uncle. Alec used his money to study medicine with hopes of becoming a partner with his brother, Tom. Young Alec reached top scores on his examinations, and decided to attend St. Marys in London to study bacteriology.

Alec becomes a scientist:
Dr. Alexander Fleming searched for antibiotic enzymes that attacked various types of bacteria. His work was stopped when he went to World War I, where he served as a Captain in the Army Medical Corps. It was during the war Alec sorrowfully watched soldiers die from simple infections. He felt there must be a chemical similar to salvarsan that could attack infections in wounds caused by exploding shells.

By 1915, Dr. Fleming married Sarah Marion, an Irish woman, and they had a son who later became a physician. Later, in 1828, while Alec was organizing his Petri dishes in the sink one day, he caught sight of something marvelous. He discovered that mold growing on one of the dishes had contaminated a staphylococcus culture, and stopped the bacteria's growth by killing it. After realizing the mold came from the penicillium family, he named it penicillin.

By 1929, Dr. Fleming announced his finding to the medical world, but few people seemed interested, if any. The curiosity concerning penicillin did not peak again until World War II, when two scientists, Florey and Chain, picked up the research. In 1944, Dr. Alexander Fleming was knighted, and shared the 1945 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine with British scientist Ernst Boris Chain, and Sir Howard Walter Florey.

Dr. Alexander Fleming died on March 11, 1955 at age seventy-three. His remains rest at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. Who would have thought that a determined little farm boy from Scotland would give the world such a wonder drug? By continuing his research Dr.Fleming's penicillin saved the lives of many children, and adults whose families will forever be grateful to his memory.

The name, Dr. Alexander Fleming will be remembered with merit for as long as time remains.

bib:
Firth, Leslie. Who Were They? New York.
Lexicon Univ. Ency. New York.
Egermeier's Stories of Great Men and Women. Indiana.

© 2000jcpinkerton

Famous Scots