Running head: SIR ALEXANDER FLEMING

Sir Alexander Fleming Daniel Roth History 105P World History Culver-Stockton College

SIR ALEXANDER FLEMING Sir Alexander Fleming The human race often takes so much for granted. 100 years ago, if an individual were to

get an infection, the death rate was astonishingly high. Antibiotics seem extremely simple today, but before 1928 the world was oblivious to the potential of these anti-infective organisms. Penicillin was the first major antibiotic agent discovered. Penicillin was discovered in 1928, by Alexander Fleming. Although, the science of pharmacology has come a long way, Penicillin is still widely used today. Penicillin would begin the start of a new age of medicine. This paper will focus on Alexander Fleming and how his work with Penicillin was influential in history and present day time. Sir Alexander Fleming was born in 1881. He was the son of a farmer from Lotchfield, Ayshire (Whos Who: Alexander Fleming, 1999). Fleming did not share the interest of his father, but he admired the work of his brother who was a doctor. Fleming would start his basic education at Loudoun Moor, and continue at several institutions before finishing at Regent Street Polytechnic (Brown, 2011). At the age of 13, Fleming moved to London to live with his brother. During this time, Fleming would enroll at St. Marys Hospital to train in the field of medicine (Knight, 2009). Flemings original career goal was to become a surgeon (Brown, 2011). In 1906, Fleming became a part of the Inoculation Department under the direction Almroth Wright. Later he would become assistant director of the department. While Fleming worked in the Inoculation department, he grew a strong understanding in the uses of chemotherapy and vaccines in the management of many bacterial diseases (Whos Who: Alexander Fleming, 1999). This knowledge would provide Fleming the insight to understand the significance of antibiotics and their properties.

SIR ALEXANDER FLEMING Shortly after Fleming had become the assistant director in 1921, he made a profound discovery. One day, Fleming was working with a bacterial culture in his lab. Fleming had a cold and while working with the culture, a drop of his nasal mucus fell on the plate. Fleming knew this would spoil any pertinent findings on this culture, but he also realized that his mucus might have an effect on the mucus so he left it (Brown, 2011). After nearly a month, Fleming

noticed that the growth of the bacteria had been inhibited. He had discovered Lysozyme, which is an enzyme found within many bodily fluids tears and saliva. Lysozyme has mild sterilizing effects on most bacteria, but he would later find that it was relatively futile against the majority of pathogens (Brown, 2011). Flemings discovery of the Lysozyme led him in the right direction of attempting to find that magic bullet organism that would fight virulent pathogens. Seven years later, Fleming would make another breakthrough, but this one would have a lasting impact on the health of the entire world. Fleming had taken a two week vacation, when he returned to the laboratory and discovered a circle of yellowish green growth on a culture of Staphylococcus bacteria (Ho, 1999) Surrounding this circle was a perimeter that had inhibited and killed off the bacteria. The plate had gathered a mould that had somehow floated from the first floor mycology lab to Flemings lab. Fleming luckily left the mould out while temperatures had dropped several degrees in London which helped the mold grow. If he had placed the culture in an incubator the bacteria would have flourished instead of the mold (Ho, 1999). Fleming recorded his findings, and knew that this mold must be releasing some sort of material that was impeding the growth of the Staphylococcus. Fleming named this potent antiinfective substance Penicillin. Fleming was not actually the first man to discover Penicillin. Two men by the names of Tyndall and Gratia had both previously worked with and noted the

SIR ALEXANDER FLEMING characteristics of Penicillin (Ho, 1999). The key difference was that Fleming continued his

research and understood the significance of the antibacterial characteristics. Fleming would later state, My only merit is that I did not neglect the observation and that I pursued the subject as a bacteriologist. Fleming would have proved this even further if he would have continued the research and had more experience and knowledge in the field of chemistry so that he could harness this powerful substance called Penicillin (Ho, 1999). After around five years of struggling to purify and identify the best ways to use Penicillin, Fleming abandoned his work with the antibiotic. Years later, Fleming distributed his Penicillin cultures he had grown. Some of these cultures were used by a team of scientists at Oxford University. These scientists were led by Howard Florney and a very knowledgeable chemist by the name of Ernst Boris Chain. The team was funded largely by the Rockefeller foundation. Their mission was to purify Penicillin so that they could inject it into infected mice. Once they completed their mission, they published the results, and then began giving experimental injections in extremely ill infected human patients (Ho, 1999). Once Penicillin had garnered a respectable reputation, Florney and his team of scientists made a great push for the use of Penicillin during World War II (Brown, 2011). They were successful in helping the government set up multiple small scale factories that would eventually produce enough Penicillin for every soldier that would need it. Penicillin would save more lives during World War II, than any other medical treatment. Penicillin would change the course of history from this point forward (Ho, 1999). Fleming valued research and recording data. He wrote several texts on bacteriology, as well as the original descriptions of the Lysozyme and Penicillin. These original descriptions can

SIR ALEXANDER FLEMING still be found in modern scientific journals. Later in his career, Fleming became a member of several different science based societies. He would also be honored with degrees from over 30 American and European universities. Fleming received numerous awards for his work in bacteriology. He also became part of the Royal Society, being knighted in 1944. Fleming received many individual awards and honors; however his most prestigious award would be shared. Fleming, Florey, and Chain would be honored with The Nobel Prize in Medicine in

1945 (Sir Alexander Fleming, n.d.). Fleming would pass away in 1955. During the last years of his life, Fleming became distinguished for his work with Penicillin. Fleming enjoyed the attention and would become the face of science and modern medicine during the 1950s (Brown, 2011). Today, there are various forms of Penicillin. These gram positive antibiotics are still in wide use in clinics and hospitals all over the world. Fleming may not have single handedly perfected Penicillin, but his role was arguably the most important. His legacy would not be for his technical knowledge of biology or chemistry, but for the insight he used when he discovered the mold growing and destroying the culture of bacteria in his lab. In saying this, Fleming should not be the only individual remembered for their work in Penicillin, but Florney and Chain should also be synonymous with the recognition that Fleming has received. Together, their accomplishments have saved an inconceivable amount of lives over the past 60 years. Any recognition these men receive they undeniably deserve. They have changed the world for the better, and affected everyone in doing so, and for that they earn the gratitude of the world.

SIR ALEXANDER FLEMING References Brown, K. (2011). Sir Alexander Fleming (Scottish bacteriologist)--Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia-Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved December 11,

2011, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/209952/Sir-Alexander-Fleming Ho, D. (1999). Alexander Fleming. time, 153, 117. Retrieved December 9, 2011, from the EBSCOhost database. Knight, D. (2009). The oxford companion to British History: Alexander Fleming. Oxford Reference Online. Retrieved December 11, 2011, from http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?entry=t110.e1689 Sir Alexander Fleming-Biography. (n.d.). Nobelprize.org. Retrieved December 11, 2011, from http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/fleming.html Who's Who in the Twentieth Century: Alexander Fleming. (1999). Oxford Reference Online. Retrieved December 9, 2011, from http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?entry=t47.e578