Sir Alexander Fleming

Alexander Fleming was a British bacteriologist who is generally considered to be the finder of penicillin.

Fleming was born the 6th of July in year 1881 in Scotland. He graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in year 1906 and started shortly afterwards to search for anti-bacterial substances with the intent to find one that wasn’t dangerous for humans. Under the First World War Fleming was on duty in Royal Army Medical Corps but he continued with his research under the whole duty and when the war ended he returned to his old school to become a professor in bacteriology.

The most fascinating part of this story is that he made the discovery of penicillin by a mere chance. In 1928 Fleming was analysing staphylococci. He went for a short vacation with his family and accidentally left a culture of staphylococci on a bench in his laboratory. When he was gone a spore of the fungus Pencillinium notatum blew in from another laboratory and landed in the culture. Since London was going through a cold period at the time the fungus got a chance to grow and when the temperature rose again the staphylococci bacteria grow. The interesting part of this course of events is that the bacteria spread all over the culture except for the spot where the fungus had grown. Fleming noticed this when he came back from his vacation and he made the conclusion that something in the unknown substance was stopping the bacteria from growing. He realized that this could be useful within medicine.

Fleming didn’t actually create the penicillin, it was instead two English biologists, Howard Florey and Ernst Boris Chain, who manage to isolate a chemical substance (penicillin) out of the fungus. This fungus had a bactericidal effect and was shortly afterwards used as a medicine. Fleming, Florey and Chain got the Nobel price in medicine in year 1945.

The penicillin had a big penetrating power which isn’t so strange seeing that you before the penicillin was invented could die from a small cut or burn that had been infected.

The rest is, as you say, history.




Kommentarer
Postat av: frida

Well eritten text with a very good flow. I can't fing any grammar mistakes either but what is wihch ?

:)

2010-02-23 @ 12:49:08
URL: http://seriouslyfrida.blogg.se/
Postat av: Anonym

love your little dude! =]

2010-02-24 @ 20:37:33

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