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10/17/2014

Biology in Media and Realty


Sir Flemings Accidental Discovery of Penicillin
Abstract:
Alexander Fleming was a bacteriologist who won the Nobel Prize in
Medicine and Physiology in 1945 for discovering Penicillin. He researched
antibiotics to treat fatal diseases such as meningitis and pneumonia.
Penicillin was the worlds first true antibiotic.
Introduction:
Sir Alexander Fleming was born in rural part of Scotland on August 6th
1881. He attended St Marys Hospital Medical School where he found
himself specializing as a surgeon therefore he switched to the field of
bacteriology in which he got a MBBS degree in 1908 (PBS). After graduation
Fleming remained at St Marys as a professor of Bacteriology until 1914 till
WW1 broke out. During WW1 he served as a captain in the Army Medical
Corps in France where he encountered many infections (PBS).
When he returned from WW1 he started searching for effective
antiseptics (American Chemical Society). In 1921 he discovered Lysozyme,
an important bacteriolytic substance (Nobel Prize Foundation). The
lysozyme was an enzyme occurring in body fluids, such as tears. It had a
natural antibacterial effect, but not against the strongest infectious agents
(PBS). Therefore he found, that it was not functional in killing disease causing
bacteria. In 1928 when Fleming returned from his holiday he was examining
his petri dishes and he accidently saw one of them had an unusual mold. It
was as if the mold had secreted something inhibiting bacterial growth. It was
later identified as a rare strain of Penicillium notatum (American Chemical
Society).
Antibiotics are compounds produced by bacteria and fungi which are
capable of killing, or inhibiting, competing microbial species (American

Chemical Society). They had known of the phenomenon of antibiotic for


decade, but it was in 1928 Penicillin, the first true antibiotic, was discovered
by Fleming. Fleming found the mold was capable of killing bacteria such as
streptococcus, meningococcus and the diphtheria bacillus (American
Chemical Society). But when he tried to isolate the pure penicillin from the
mold it proved to be unstable. He published his findings in the hope that
other pathologist and biochemists would be ably to purify penicillin.
In 1943 he was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society and knighted
in 1944. In 1945 he won the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology with
Ernst Boris Chain and Sir Howard Walter Florey (Nobel Prize Foundation). In
1939 Ernst Boris Chain and Sir Howard Walter Florey turned penicillin from a
laboratory curiosity into a life-saving drug at Oxford University (American
Chemical Society).
Discussion:
The discovery of Penicillin has been a crucial finding because it allowed
diseases, such as meningitis, pneumonia, rheumatic fever, syphilis, and
gonorrhea, which seemed fatal to be treated (American Chemical Society).
Its the most widely used antibiotic. It helped decrease the number of
amputations during WWII. Its discovery has since led Pharmaceutical
companies to research more natural products, which has then led to more
antibiotics.
Conclusion:
Alexander Fleming won the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology in
1945 with Ernst Boris Chain and Sir Howard Walter Florey for his discovery of
Penicillin. Penicillin was the first true antibiotic. It was able to treat diseases
previously believed to be fatal. He also paved the way for future antibiotics.
Without penicillin our world would be full of fatal diseases.
References:

The Nobel Foundation (1945) Alexander Fleming Biographical. Nobel


Lecture, Medicine and Physiology 1942-1962
American Chemical Society and the Royal Society of Chemistry. (1999) The
discovery and development of penicillin 1928-1945
Public Broadcasting Service (1998) A Science Odyssey, People and
Discoveries: Alexander Fleming 1881 1955

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