Alexander Fleming: Biography, Education and Discovery.
                     ALEXANDER FLEMING: 
BIOGRAPHY, 
EDUCATION AND 
DISCOVERY
Who Was Alexander 
Fleming?
Alexander Fleming was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, on 
August 6, 1881, and studied medicine, serving as a 
physician during World War I. 
Through research and experimentation, Fleming 
discovered a bacteria-destroying mold which he would 
call penicillin in 1928, paving the way for the use of 
antibiotics in modern healthcare. 
Presentation title 2
Source: www.biography.com
Early Years
Alexander Fleming was born in rural Lochfield, in East 
Ayrshire, Scotland, on August 6, 1881. 
His parents, Hugh and Grace were farmers, and 
Alexander was one of their four children.
Presentation title 3
Source: www.biography.com
Early Education
He attended the Louden Moor School, the Darvel 
School and Kilmarnock Academy before moving to 
London in 1895, where he lived with his older brother, 
Thomas Fleming. 
In London, Fleming finished his basic education at the 
Regent Street Polytechnic (now the University of 
Westminster).
Presentation title 4
Source: www.biography.com
Higher Education
Fleming was a member of the Territorial Army and 
served from 1900 to 1914 in the London Scottish 
Regiment. 
He entered the medical field in 1901, studying at St. 
Mary's Hospital Medical School at the University of 
London. 
While at St. Mary's, he won the 1908 gold medal as 
the top medical student.
Presentation title 5
Source: www.biography.com
Early Career
Fleming had planned on becoming a surgeon, but a 
temporary position in the Inoculation Department at 
St. Mary's Hospital changed his path toward the then-
new field of bacteriology. 
There, he developed his research skills under the 
guidance of bacteriologist and immunologist Sir 
Almroth Edward Wright, whose revolutionary ideas of 
vaccine therapy represented an entirely new direction 
in medical treatment.
Presentation title 6
Source: www.biography.com
During World I
During World War I, Fleming served in the Royal Army 
Medical Corps. 
He worked as a bacteriologist, studying wound 
infections in a makeshift lab that had been set up by 
Wright in Boulogne, France. 
Presentation title 7
Source: www.biography.com
Discovery regarding 
antiseptics
Fleming discovered that antiseptics commonly used at 
the time were doing more harm than good, as their 
diminishing effects on the body's immunity agents 
largely outweighed their ability to break down harmful 
bacteria therefore, more soldiers were dying from 
antiseptic treatment than from the infections they 
were trying to destroy.
Presentation title 8
Source: www.biography.com
Discovery of human immune 
system 
In November 1921, while nursing a cold, Fleming 
discovered lysozyme, a mildly antiseptic enzyme 
present in body fluids, when a drop of mucus dripped 
from his nose onto a culture of bacteria. 
This marked Fleming's first great discovery, as well as 
a significant contribution to human immune system 
research.
Presentation title 9
Source: www.biography.com
The Road to Penicillin
In September 1928, Fleming returned to his laboratory 
after a month away with his family, and noticed that a 
culture of Staphylococcus aureus he had left out had 
become contaminated with a mold.
He also discovered that the colonies of staphylococci 
surrounding this mold had been destroyed.
Presentation title 10
Source: www.biography.com
Honors
In 1946, Fleming succeeded Almroth Edward Wright 
as head of St. Mary's Inoculation Department, which 
was renamed the Wright-Fleming Institute.
 Additionally, Fleming served as president of the 
Society for General Microbiology, a member of the 
Pontifical Academy of Science, and an honorary 
member of nearly every medical and scientific society 
in the world.
Presentation title 11
Source: www.biography.com
Later Years
Fleming died of a heart attack on March 11, 1955, at 
his home in London, England. He was survived by his 
second wife, Dr. Amalia Koutsouri-Vourekas, and his 
only child, Robert, from his first marriage.
Presentation title 12
Source: www.biography.com