Alexander Fleming (1881-1955): A noble life in science

Scientific creativity takes various forms. One of these is serendipity discovering phenomena while diverting from intended research: pursuing
a passing intuition; detecting the significance of a seemingly
unexceptional and inconsequential occurrence.
Fleming was one of the great exponents of intelligent serendipity, making
two outstanding discoveries involving antibiotics. Henry Dale, Nobel
Laureate of 1936, commented: "I can assure you that the elegance and
beauty of his observations just as a naturalist observer of the
phenomenon of lysozyme and of penicillin, as he presented it, did make
a great impression and everybody remembered these things".
Fleming quite deliberately did not clean his petri dishes each day, but
would look at them weeks later; and although his laboratory was
focussed on immunotherapy, he did not disregard chemotherapy.
Alexander Fleming's scientific success lay in his open, enquiring mind,
his strong technical intuition, and his penchant for naturalistic
observation. And, as he explained: "I was situated so that I could leave
my previous line of work and follow the track which fate had indicated for
me".
1881-1900 Childhood
Alec Fleming was the son of a Scottish farming family, born in Loudon, a
village in the moorlands of Ayrshire, on 6 August 1881. In 1895 he and
other family members moved to London, where he continued his
schooling at Regent Street Polytechnic.
1901-1913 Medical education and first research
At St Mary's Hospital Medical School, he excelled, quickly showing his
manual dexterity and inventiveness; so much so that for a while it looked
as if a future in surgery beckoned until he was drawn to the attractions of
bacteria hunting and therapeutic sleuthing. He completed his degrees at
the University of London in 1908, and stayed on at the renowned
Inoculation Laboratory of Almroth Wright.
1914-1918 War wounds
Just when Fleming was at risk of becoming known only as the 'Pox
Doctor' on account of his work with venereal diseases, the Great War

intervened and he and Wright found themselves in France at a military

hospital in Boulogne. Fleming's research there showed that the bacteria
responsible for gas gangrene and tetanus - two great scourges of the
trenches - were able to grow in the anaerobic depths of the terrible
wounds; moreover, antiseptics did not reach these areas, sometimes
exacerbating the condition by harming cells that defend the body. The
recommendation that diseased tissues should be cut away was
controversial.
1919-1937 One discovery leads to another: lysozyme and penicillin
After the war Fleming returned to St Mary's Hospital, where one day,
suffering from a heavy cold, curiosity inspired him to culture his nasal
mucus on agar jelly. After some weeks, in November 1921 he looked
again at the petri dish, and made the discovery that would be a prelude
to that of penicillin, seven years later. Although there was a healthy
population of bacteria growing on the culture, those near the mucus had
been inhibited or destroyed.
Fleming had found lysozyme, an antibacterial enzyme that occurs
naturally in tissues and secretions: mucus, tears and egg-white
(protecting the embryonic bird). Unfortunately this substance has little
effect on the more notoriously harmful bacteria. Nonetheless it had
alerted Fleming to the power of natural biological antibiotics.
In 1928 history repeated itself, in a more fortuitous way. On returning to
the laboratory after some weeks in his country home in Suffolk, he picked
up a culture plate of the Staphylococcus bacteria that he had left on the
bench. A contaminating mould had grown on the dish and around it for
some distance the bacterial colonies were absent or dead. Subsequent
research by Fleming revealed that the 'mould juice' was effective against
a wide range of bacterial strains including many that are highly
pathogenic to humans.
A major remaining hurdle was the production of the active substance
Fleming had named 'penicillin', in significant quantities and
concentrations, and in a stable form.
1938-1944 The penicillin revolution
The fresh impetus emerged from Oxford University. Biochemists Howard
Florey, Ernst Chain, Norman Heatley and others were searching for
germicides to analyse chemically. By the end of the 1930s penicillin had
been deemed the best candidate based on Fleming's published findings

and mould culture. The group devised a suitable assay standard for
measuring the strength of a penicillin preparation, as well as means of
extracting and purifying it. The process was later industrialised by
researchers in the USA, with the assistance of Heatley.
The Oxford group conducted in May 1940 the first intravenous injections
of penicillin into infected mice, demonstrating the powerful efficacy of
penicillin as an antibiotic. Its significance to the war was now so evident
that Florey and his colleagues smeared spores of the mould into their
suit linings in case they needed to escape quickly following invasion.
In early 1941 penicillin was injected, with initial success, into an Oxford
policeman afflicted with septicaemia. Sadly he died when the available
penicillin was exhausted. It was not until 1942 that a supply of penicillin
from British sources enabled otherwise terminally ill patients to be cured
in significant numbers.
1945-1955 Recognition
In 1945 Sir Alexander Fleming, along with Sir Howard Florey and Ernst
Chain, was awarded the Nobel Prize; a notable omission was Norman
Heatley (as only three winners are allowed). For Fleming, a quiet
personality, 10 years of worldwide fame and travel followed, until on 11
March 1955 he died, an international hero. His ashes were interred in St
Paul's Cathedral, London.
Student :Horne Ioana-Alexandra
Year: 1
Group: 5
University of Medicine and Pharmacy Targu Mures