Alexander Fleming

Alexander Fleming was a Scottish scientist who discovered penicillin. He was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, in 1881. He found that a type of mold could kill bacteria. This led to the first antibiotic medicine and saved millions of lives.

Early Life

Fleming grew up on a farm in Scotland. He moved to London as a teenager and worked in a shipping office. He later studied medicine at St Mary's Hospital. He became a doctor and researcher.

An old wartime poster about the medicine penicillin.
An old wartime poster about the medicine penicillin. (Unknown authorUnknown author / Wikimedia Commons)

Big Discoveries

In 1928, Fleming noticed that mold had killed bacteria in one of his petri dishes. He figured out the mold made a substance that fights germs. He called it penicillin. Other scientists later turned it into a medicine. Fleming won the Nobel Prize in 1945.

Fun Facts

  • Fleming's discovery was a lucky accident because he left his lab messy.
  • He was also a talented painter who made pictures using colorful bacteria.
  • Fleming served as a captain in the army medical corps during World War I.

Did You Know?

Before antibiotics, even a small cut could kill a person if it got infected. Penicillin was first widely used in World War II and saved thousands of soldiers' lives.