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Sir Alexander Fleming - The Gift of Pencillin


Fleming described as a halo around the staphylococcus bacteria. Fleming corrected theorized that the substance had slowed the growth of the bacteria. The mold was Penicillium notatum, which Fleming named penicillin. Fleming never produced a quantity of penicillin and he never conducted thorough testing. He did publish his findings in the British Journal of Experimental Pathology in 1929, but the article went unnoticed.

Fortunately, Fleming was very willing to provide samples of penicillin to other researchers. It was ten more years until Howard Florey and Ernst Boris Chain, working at Oxford University, purified the penicillin and experimented by treating deadly bacteria injected into living organisms. Florey went on to lead the effort to produce large quantities of the purified penicillin in the early 1940s and, therefore, helped save lives during World War II.

In 1944, Fleming was knighted, and in 1945, he, Florey, and Chain were awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine.

Fleming's wife died in 1949. He remarried in 1953 to Dr. Amalia Koutsouri-Voureka. Fleming died of a heart attack March 11, 1955 and is buried in St. Paul's Cathedral. The Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum is located at St. Mary's in London.

Awards and Honors

  • Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (England), 1909
  • Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (London), 1944
  • Hunterian Professor (1919)
  • Arris and Gale Lecturer (1929), Royal College of Surgeons
  • Honorary Gold Medal (1946), Royal College of Surgeons
  • Williams Julius Mickle Fellowship, University of London (1942)
  • Charles Mickle Fellowship, University of Toronto (1944)
  • John Scott Medal, City Guild of Philadelphia (1944)
  • Cameron Prize, University of Edinburgh (1945)
  • Moxon Medal, Royal College of Physicians (1945)
  • Cutter Lecturer, Harvard University (1945)
  • Albert Gold Medal, Royal Society of Arts (1946)
  • Gold Medal, Royal Society of Medicine (1947)
  • Medal for Merit, U.S.A. (1947)
  • Grand Cross of Alphonse X the Wise, Spain (1948)
  • Past President of the Society for General Microbiology
  • Member of the Pontifical Academy of Science
  • Freeman of many boroughs and cities
  • Honorary Doctorate degrees from almost thirty European and American universities

Sources

http://www.nobel.se/medicine/laureates/1945/fleming-bio.html.

http://www.time.com/time/time100/scientist/profile/fleming.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bmflem.html

http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/Museum/flemin.html

http://www.medicalmuseums.org/museums/alex.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/medicine/nonint/modern/dt/modtbi2.shtml

http://www.scotsmart.com/info/famous/a_fleming.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/fleming_alexander.shtml

http://www.britannia.com/bios/fleming.html

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/alexander_fleming_and_penicillin.htm

http://www.chemheritage.org/classroom/pharm/antibiot/readings/fleming.htm

 

The copyright of the article Sir Alexander Fleming - The Gift of Pencillin in Biographies of Scientists is owned by Jackie DiGiovanni. Permission to republish Sir Alexander Fleming - The Gift of Pencillin in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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