ALEXANDER FLEMING

ALEXANDER FLEMING ( 1881 – 1955 )
Penicillin, an antibiotic saved thousands of lives in second world war. Actually it was accidentally discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928. It can be injected into the human blood for treating diseases live diphtheria, Pnuemonia and severe wounds.
Fleming was a bacteriologist from Scotland. He took his degree in 1906 at St. Mary’s Medical School, London. He joined Army Medical corps and did research. After the first world war he returned to London to work in Medical school. One day he observed some strange flecks of fungus that were grown up in an uncovered pantery dish which he was using for antibacterial experiments. To his surprise he found that wherever the fungus had grown, the bacteria had died. Fleming felt that it was caused by a spore which had flown in through a window and settled on the dish. That was a rare fungus in the mould family. He took the fluid from it and tried it on bacteria. Ultimately he concluded that the fungus had a deadly effect on the disease which cause microbes. The fluid which acted as a repellent to the growth of bacteria was obtained from the penicillium fungus, and was named penicillin. For this wonderful discovery, the Nobel Prize was awarded jointly to Fleming, Florey and chain in the field of medicine in 1945. American drug manufacturers gave Fleming support to isolate Penicillin. In course of time technique of extracting Penicillin in large quantities was evolved.
Fleming died on March 11, 1955 in London