Fleming, Sir Alexander

Fleming, Sir Alexander, 1881–1955, Scottish bacteriologist, discoverer of penicillin (1928) and lysozyme (1922), an antibacterial substance found in saliva and other body secretions. Educated at St. Mary's Hospital Medical School, Univ. of London, where he later became professor of bacteriology, he published many articles on bacteriology, immunology, and chemotherapy. He shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Ernst B. Chain and Sir Howard W. Florey for work on penicillin. Fleming was knighted in 1944.

Bibliography

See biography by G. MacFarlane (1985).

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Fleming, Sir Alexander

(born Aug. 6, 1881, Lochfield, Ayr, Scot.—died March 11, 1955, London, Eng.) Scottish bacteriologist. While serving in the Royal Army Medical Corps in World War I, he conducted research on antibacterial substances that would be nontoxic to humans. In 1928 he inadvertently discovered penicillin when he noticed that a mold contaminating a bacterial culture was inhibiting the bacteria's growth. He shared a 1945 Nobel Prize with Ernst Boris Chain and Howard Walter Florey, who both carried Fleming's basic discovery further in isolating, purifying, testing, and producing penicillin in quantity.