Biography of Alexander Fleming - Penicillin Inventor

Alexander Fleming was born in 1881 in Lochfield, Scotland. Fleming was the third of four children, but he still had four half-brothers. Fleming attended Loudoun Moor School and Darvel School, then for two years at the Kilmarnock Academy.

When he was 20 years old, Fleming's uncle died and inherited most of his property to Fleming. At that time, Fleming's older brother is a doctor and he wanted Fleming to follow in his footsteps as a doctor.

Therefore, in 1901, Alexander Fleming enrolled as a medical student at St. Mary Hospital, London. After college, he was busy with various studies on immunity.

During World War I, Fleming worked as an army doctor. It was then that he studied infections on wounds in the warring armies. At that time, already used antiseptic to clean the wound and prevent infection. However, Fleming noticed that antiseptics are more damaging to body cells than killing germs.

Therefore, according to Fleming, needed a new substance capable of killing bacteria that cause infection without damaging the cells of the human body.

After World War I ended, Fleming returned to St. Mary Hospital. In 1922, he managed to do research and found a substance called lysozyme. Lysozyme is produced by the human body and is capable of disabling germs but harmless to the human body.

However, lysozyme is ineffective for killing certain dangerous germs for the human body. Hence, his discovery is not very well known.

However, Alexander Fleming is an unyielding scientist. He continues to research to find substances that are capable of killing germs but not harmful to the human body.

In 1982, Fleming found something very important. In his lab, he managed to breed staphylococcus bacteria. These bacteria are then left in the open air so it becomes dirty and rotting. As a result of this decay, staphylococcus bacteria turns into a liquid.

Based on these facts he concluded that the process of decay produces substances that are toxic to bacteria. This substance is then referred to as penicillin. Fleming announced his findings on penicillin in 1929.

But Penicillin Fleming's findings are still harmful to humans and animals. He spent over 10 years discovering how to purify penicillin. Unfortunately, not many scientists are interested in his research at the time. During those 10 years, penicillin was simply ignored.

Fortunately, in the late 1930s, two British researchers, Howard Walter Florey and Ernst Boris Chain, discovered Fleming's writings on penicillin. They then studied and reviewed Fleming's findings. Finally, they can get pure penicillin that is not harmful to humans.

The purified penicillin was then tested to animals, in the laboratory. In 1941, Florey and Chain tried for the first time penicillin in a sick man. The result is amazing. Penicillin can kill germs without harm to body cells.

Fleming's findings then became well-known and widely used. The British and US governments produce large amounts of penicillin. Initially, penicillin was used only for medical purposes in hospitals to treat victims of war. However, then penicillin can be used freely by the community.

Penicillin is the most famous and most widely used antibiotic. This drug is used to cure syphilis, gonorrhea, diphtheria, arthritis, bronchitis, scarlet, lever, gangrene and other diseases. Penicillin is also a safe antibiotic for use in treating various infections.

The discovery was initially unattractive, could be a diving champion of people around the world. Penicillin which Fleming finds was the most important in the medical field at that time.

Florey and Chain are instrumental in developing penicillin. But the first person to find it was Alexander Fleming. In 1945, Alexander Fleming was given a Nobel laureate for his findings. He shared the gifts with Florey and Chain who helped make his findings famous.

Fleming is married and has one child. He died in 1955.
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