Sir Alexander flamming

  Achievements of Alexander flamming

Sir Alexander Fleming

 Alexander Fleming was born in Scotland in 1881. At the age of fourteen he joined a polytechnic institute in London. He left it after two years. For four years he worked as a clerk in a shipping firm of London. When he was twenty-, he got admission to St. Mary’s medical school.

Flemming

 He passed his final examination in 1906. For eight years lie worked in Wright’s Laboratory. In 1914, he joined the R.A M.C. He had to face the problem of the treatment of infected wounds. The problem was to kill the germs without damaging the white blood, cells that fight against germs. At thirty-seven Fleming went back to St. Mary’s- and continued research. In 1922, he discovered an antiseptic It was not a '' chemical like carbolic acid but a natural antiseptic manufactured by the body. 

Discovery of  lysozyme

He made the discovery by an accident by .the elimination of his own nasal secretions. He discovered a substance that destroyed microbes on a culture plate. He called it Lysozyme. It was in fact, the first antiseptic that was harmless to the cells of the body Unfortunately it did not prove useful in the treatment of diseases. ' * , In 1928, Fleming was appointed Professor of Bacteriology in the University of London.The same year he discovered penicillin. The discovery was made again by accident. A mould spore entered Fleming's laboratory and fell on a culture plate It destroyed the growth of germs on the plate. Fleming worked hard and he was able to produce the anti-bacterial substance free of the mould. Experiments proved the effectiveness of penicillin against germs. It did not harm the white blood cells. 
It was an ideal antiseptic but it could be used to fight germs only when it was in concentrated form. Fleming was not a chemist and could not concentrate it. He published his findings. Years later, Professor Florey and Dr. Chain succeeded, after a long hard strggle, In producing penicillin in required form. The first patient was treated with penicillin in 1941. 
Since then millions and millions of people have been treated with it. Fleming was knighted in 1944 and awarded the Nobel Prize in 1945. He became famous. He. had to travel widely, attend functions, make speeches anchteceive thanks. But Fleming was very modest. 
He said that nature made penicillin, he just found it. Fleming, like Pasteur, opened up a whole new world of science. He died in 1956 at the age of seventy-three. His work will never die. .