Alexander Fleming
His accidental discovery of a mold's antibacterial power launched the antibiotic age, saving countless millions of lives.
1881–1955 (age 74)·Scottish physician and microbiologist·Birthday: August 6·The Gilded Age
Biography
Alexander Fleming was a Scottish bacteriologist working in a modest London laboratory when, in 1928, a chance observation changed medical history. Returning from holiday, he noticed a mold called Penicillium had contaminated a staphylococcus culture plate and was killing the bacteria around it. He identified the active substance as penicillin, publishing his findings, but struggled to purify it for clinical use. It was over a decade later, during World War II, that a team at Oxford led by Howard Florey and Ernst Chain unlocked its mass-production potential. Fleming, a practical and unassuming man, shared the 1945 Nobel Prize for the discovery. While he did not single-handedly develop the drug, his sharp eye for the unusual provided the essential spark for what became medicine's most powerful weapon against bacterial infection.
The Gilded Age
1860–1882
Born during or after the Civil War, they built industrial America — the railroads, the steel mills, the first skyscrapers. An era of massive wealth, massive inequality, and the belief that the future belonged to whoever could build it fastest.
Alexander was born in 1881, placing them squarely in The Gilded Age. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Alexander Was Born
The biggest hits of 1881
Alexander's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1881Born
President: Chester A. Arthur
1886Started school
Statue of Liberty dedicated in New York Harbor
President: Grover Cleveland
1894Became a teenager
President: Grover Cleveland
1897Could drive
President: William McKinley
1899Could vote
President: William McKinley
1902Turned 21
The eruption of Mount Pelee kills 30,000 in Martinique
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1911Turned 30
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire kills 146 in New York
President: William Howard Taft
1921Turned 40
First commercial radio broadcasts
President: Warren G. Harding"My Man" — Fanny Brice
1931Turned 50
The Empire State Building opens as the world's tallest
Gas: $0.17/galPresident: Herbert Hoover"Minnie the Moocher" — Cab CallowayBest Picture: Cimarron
1941Turned 60
Pearl Harbor attack brings the US into WWII
Gas: $0.19/galHome: $3,060Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Chattanooga Choo Choo" — Glenn MillerBest Picture: How Green Was My Valley
1951Turned 70
First color TV broadcast in the US
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,925Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Too Young" — Nat King ColeBest Picture: An American in Paris
1955Died at 74
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat
Gas: $0.29/galHome: $9,550Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Rock Around the Clock" — Bill Haley & His CometsBest Picture: Marty
Key Achievements
- Discovered the antibiotic substance lysozyme in 1922, an early step toward understanding antibacterial agents.
- Made the initial observation of penicillin's antibacterial properties in 1928, naming the substance.
- Awarded the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Florey and Chain for the discovery and development of penicillin.
Did You Know?
He served as a captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps during World War I, witnessing the deadly effects of bacterial infections in wounds.
His Nobel Prize medal was sold at auction in 2014 for over $600,000.
The original penicillin mold sample is preserved in the Imperial War Museum in London.
“One sometimes finds what one is not looking for.”
