Transcript Alexander Fleming Bio

Creator of
Penicillin
ALEXANDER FLEMING
BIRTHDATE AND FAMILY MEMBERS
Alexander Fleming was born in Ayr shire, Scotland on August
6, 1881 . Alexander was 7 th of 8 children .
THIS IS A
PICTURE OF
AYRSHIRE,
SCOTLAND
CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOL LIFE

Alexander went to school at Dar vel school. He finished his basic
education at Regent Street Polytechnic, which is now the Univer sity
of Westminster. Alexander was a member of the territorial army,
and ser ved from 1900 to 1914. He star ted studying in the medical
field at St. Mar y’s Hospital Medical School at the University of
London.
DARVEL
SCHOOL IN
LONDON
Which is where
A l exa n d e r w e n t
to s c h o o l .
HOBBIES, INTEREST, AND ACTIVITIES
 nj
CAREER

At fir st Alexander wanted to be a surgeon, but then had second
thoughts and decided to study bacteriology, which is the study of
bacteria. Sir Almroth Edward Wright helped him revolutionize ideas
for vaccine therapy. While world war 1 was taking place, Fleming
was the royal Army Medical Corps. He was a bacteriologist and he
studied wound infections. He learned there that the medicine was
not working the way they were suppose to.
FLEMING
AT WORK
COMING BACK HOME FROM WAR
 When Alexander got back home from war he became assistant
director of St. Mar y’s inoculation depar tment, which means he
would become a professor of bacteriology at the University of
London in 1928. He also became emeritus professor of
bacteriology in 1948.
THE EXCITING PART IS
HAPPENING!
He discovers
lysozyme in
his boogers!
HIS BIG BREAK THREW
 One day in November in 1921 , he discovered lysozyme when some
of his mucus dropped onto a plate of testing bacteria, Alexander
was curious to see what ef fect the mucus would have on the
bacteria so he mixed it! He lef t it on the plate for a couple of weeks
and he noticed that the bacteria had dissolved. This was one of
Flemings greatest discoveries. Fleming took a month vacation and
when he came back to work , the bacteria/mucus had grew mold! He
also discovered that the colonies of staphylococci surrounding that
mold had been destroyed.
Bacteria
boogers
MORE ABOUT HIS DISCOVERY/REASON
FOR FAME
 At first he named the substance “mold juice” and then he had
second thoughts and renamed it penicillin. Fleming and two of his
co-worker s, Howard Florey and Ernest Chain shared the Nobel prize
in physiology or medicine.
PENICILLIN DISCOVERY
ANECDOTE
 Fleming was usually very dirty and messy which led to the
mold on his experiment.
LATER LIFE AND OLD AGE
 Later in life, Alexander was president of the society for
general microbiology. He was awarded honorary doctorate
degrees from nearly 30 European and American universities.
DEATH
 Fleming died due to a heart attack on March 11 , 1955 at his
house in London, France with his second wife, Dr. Amailia
Koutsouri-Vourekead and his son, Robert.