MEDICINE'S GREAT ALEXANDER

Sir Alexander Fleming, FRS FRSE FRCS, was a Scottish physician and microbiologist, credited with the discovery of the world's first antibiotic, Penicillin...

Rural Ayrshire born Fleming, a 1908 gold medalist of St. Mary's Hospital Medical School at the University of London served as a physician during WW1...

Through research and experimentation, Fleming discovered the bacteria-destroying mold called Penicillin in 1928, ushering in the era of antibiotics in modern healthcare. Knighted in 1944, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1945...

Aspiring to be a surgeon, a temporary position in the Inoculation Department at St. Mary's Hospital changed the course of his career. The innovative ideas of his mentor, bacteriologist and immunologist, Sir Almroth Edward Wright inspired Fleming to pursue research and experimentation...

Serving in the Royal Army Medical Corps during World War I he worked as a bacteriologist studying wound infections in a makeshift lab in Boulogne, France. He discovered that antiseptics commonly used at the time were doing more harm than good. He recommended that, for more effective healing, wounds simply be kept dry and clean. However, his recommendations largely went unheeded...

After the war in 1918, Fleming became assistant director of St. Mary's Inoculation Department. Fleming's first significant contribution to human immune system research was his discovery of Lysozyme, an antiseptic enzyme present in body fluids. He soon realised that lysozyme had no effect on destructive bacteria...

In September 1928, returning to his laboratory after a month's vacation, Fleming noticed that a culture of Staphylococcus aureus he had left out had become contaminated with a mold (later identified as Penicillium notatum). He also discovered that the colonies of staphylococci surrounding this mold had been destroyed...

In Fleming's own words, "When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn't plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world's first antibiotic, or bacteria killer. But I suppose that was exactly what I did." And thus Penicillin was born...

Soon after, a team of scientists from the University of Oxford, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain, isolated and purified the antibiotic Penicillin which was then duly used during World War II, thus revolutionizing the field of infection control...

Florey, Chain and Fleming shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine...

In 1946, Fleming succeeded Sir Almroth Edward Wright as head of St. Mary's Inoculation Department. It was later renamed the Wright-Fleming Institute. Fleming was given honorary membership of nearly every medical and scientific society in the world, apart from being awarded honorary doctorate degrees from nearly 30 European and American universities...

Fleming passed away after a cardiac arrest on March 11, 1955, at his home in London, England...

Simply put, the world owes a lot to Sir Fleming and Penicillin. With no effective treatment then for the trivialest of infections, hospitals teemed with patients just waiting for a hopeful recovery. The advent of Penicillin brought about a paradigm shift in therapy and prognosis, paving the way for rapid strides in medical research, development and technology...

Salutes to the noble Scottish soul...

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