Alexander Fleming was a Scottish bacteriologist and Nobel Prize winner, best known for his discovery of penicillin.
Fleming was born in Ayrshire on 6th August 1881, the son of a farmer. He moved to London at the age of 13, and later trained as a doctor.
During World War I, he served as a captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps.
In 1928, while studying influenza, Fleming noticed that a mould had developed accidentally on a set of culture dishes being used to grow the staphylococcus bacteria. The mould had created a bacteria-free circle around itself. Fleming concluded that the mould contained a substance that was effective against bacteria. The substance was named penicillin, and became the basis for medication to treat bacterial infections.
Fleming shared the Nobel Prize in 1945 with Howard Florey and Ernst Boris Chain. His invention saved many lives especially during times of war. Sir Alexander Fleming died on 11th March, 1955.
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