Sir Dr Alexander Fleming FRS FRSE FRCS
(1881-1955)
discoverer of penicillin, Fellow of the Royal Society, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, microbiologist, physician, Knight Bachelor (from 1944), and Nobel Physiology or Medicine Laureate (from 1945)
Died aged c. 74
Wikidata WikipediaSir Alexander Fleming FRS FRSE FRCS (6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish physician and microbiologist, best known for discovering the world's first broadly effective antibiotic substance, which he named penicillin. His discovery in 1928 of what was later named benzylpenicillin (or penicillin G) from the mould Penicillium rubens is described as the "single greatest victory ever achieved over disease." For this discovery, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Howard Florey and Ernst Boris Chain. He also discovered the enzyme lysozyme from his nasal discharge in 1922, and along with it a bacterium he named Micrococcus Lysodeikticus, later renamed Micrococcus luteus. Fleming was knighted for his scientific achievements in 1944. In 1999, he was named in Time magazine's list of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th century. In 2002, he was chosen in the BBC's television poll for determining the 100 Greatest Britons, and in 2009, he was also voted third "greatest Scot" in an opinion poll conducted by STV, behind only Robert Burns and William Wallace.
DbPedia
Commemorated on 2 plaques
Sir Alexander Fleming 1881-1955 discoverer of penicillin lived here
20a Danvers Street, London, United Kingdom where they lived
Sir Alexander Fleming 1881-1955 discovered penicillin in the second storey room above this plaque
St Mary's Hospital, Praed Street, W2, London, United Kingdom where they discovered penicillin