Alexander Fleming Facts

Fleming was raised in Lochfield, Ayrshire, the UK, on 6 August 1881. Throughout the First World War, Fleming served in the medical corps and Western Front hospitals; he was cited in dispatches during his service. Alexander Fleming facts include his most significant discovery in 1928, when he found an efficient antibacterial agent by coincidence. Fleming shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology in 1945.

Alexander Fleming Biography 

Alexander Fleming’s parents were farmers, and their farm was in the little village of Darvel situated in Scotland, United Kingdom. At the age of 7, his father’s health deteriorated, and he died. He attended a school where only 12 students of various ages were educated in a classroom between the ages of five and eight. Alexander’s next school was Darvel School where his scholastic talent was spotted when he was 11 years old, and he had been offered a scholarship at Academy named Kilmarnock, where he studied for roughly 2 years before departing for London. Alexander studied commerce and graduated at the age of sixteen.

He used to get pocket money in 1901 when he was 20 years old. He opted to put the money toward medical school as he was inspired to be a doctor by his brother Tom. 

Alexander entered London’s St Mary’s Medical Hospital School in 1903, at 22, and graduated with a Bachelor of Surgery and Bachelor of Medicine. While conducting this research, he received his bacteriology degree in the year 1908, and he also got awarded for outstanding student. He was thereafter appointed to the position of lecturer at St Mary’s Hospital School.

Fleming married Sarah Marion McElroy in 1915 while serving as a captain in the Medical Corps., They have a son named Robert, and he also became a general practitioner. Sarah, his wife, died in 1949. Fleming married again in the year 1953, Dr Amalia Koutsouri-Voureka, who was a member of his research group. Alexander Fleming died on March 11, 1955, at the age of 73, due to a heart attack in London. 

Alexander Fleming Discoveries and Facts

• Proving that Antiseptics Killed instead of Curing

When World War I started in 1914, Fleming became the Army Corps captain as he worked in France hospitals. In a series of ingenious tests, he discovered that the antiseptic medicines used to prevent infection and heal wounds killed more troops than the actual diseases. 

Antiseptics like boric acid, hydrogen peroxide and carbolic acid failed to destroy germs from the wounds; worse, they reduced the soldier’s ability to combat infection by eliminating WHC (white blood cells).  Fleming introduced that antiseptic chemicals were only effective in healing surface wounds and were hazardous when used on deeper lesions.

He felt that severe wounds should be cleaned with salt water, a saline solution since it did not mix up with the body’s innate defences or with white cells. In the field, Fleming demonstrated this finding, but the majority of army physicians refused to adjust their practices, resulting in many avoidable fatalities.

• Lysozyme Discovery

When he was 41 years old, his first discovery was as an agent. Fleming extracted secretions from a patient’s nose who was suffering from a cold and cough. He cultured the fluids in order to cultivate any bacteria that were present. He identified a novel bacteria known as Micrococcus lysodeikticus, also known as M. luteus, in the secretions. He investigated the influence of various bodily fluids on these germs, such as saliva, blood serum and tears. He discovered that bacteria would not be able to grow if any one of the drops of these fluids were introduced.

Fleming found an enzyme as the common component in the fluids. Lysozyme was the name he gave to his enzyme. Lysozyme has the effect of destroying some types of microbes, rendering them safe for humans. The lysozyme present in our bodies protects us from potentially dangerous bacteria. It provides us with natural immunity against a variety of ailments. 

Lysozyme is now used to preserve wine and food. It is naturally found in eggs in high amounts, providing protection against infection to chicks. It is also used in medicine, mainly in Asia, to treat athletes’ foot, head colds and throat infections.

• Penicillin’s Discovery

Other monumental Alexander Fleming discoveries include something that happened in August 1928. He came back after a vacation to his laboratory on September 3 and saw the dish left on his bench. He found Staphylococcus bacteria colonies in the dishes. While he was out, one of his helpers had left one of the windows open, allowing various germs to contaminate the dishes.

A fungus was flourishing, and the bacteria in its vicinity had been destroyed. The bacteria seemed normal further away from the fungus. Fleming gave the dish to his assistant to determine how similar it was to Fleming’s discovery of lysozyme. Fleming committed himself to cultivate more of the fungus in the hopes of discovering a better natural antibiotic than lysozyme. He made a bacteria-killing liquid and found the Penicillium genus. He publicly called the antibiotic penicillin on March 7, 1929.

Fleming presented his findings, demonstrating that penicillin killed a wide range of germs, including those that cause fever, meningitis, pneumonia and diphtheria. Penicillin was also found to be non-toxic and did not harm white blood cells.

Conclusion  

In 1945, he travelled to America, and the chemical industries presented him with a personal gift of $100,000 as a gesture of appreciation and thanks for his efforts. Fleming donated it to the research laboratories at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School.