Alexander Fleming

Alexander Fleming (1881–1955) was a Scottish physician and bacteriologist who discovered lysozyme in 1922 and penicillin in 1928.

Penicillin: A group of antibiotics first derived from Penicillium moulds that kill or inhibit susceptible bacteria. Fleming identified its antibacterial effect after mould contaminated a staphylococcal culture in 1928.
Howard Florey: An Australian-born pathologist who led the Oxford team that developed penicillin as a treatment. Florey’s team converted Fleming’s laboratory finding into a drug tested in patients.
Almroth Wright: A British bacteriologist and immunologist who directed the inoculation department at St Mary’s Hospital. Wright recruited Fleming to St Mary’s and influenced his early research career.
Antiseptic: A substance applied to living tissue to reduce or prevent microbial infection. Fleming’s wartime observations highlighted how some antiseptics harmed defensive cells as well as bacteria.
Lysozyme: An enzyme that breaks bacterial cell walls and occurs in bodily secretions such as tears and saliva. Fleming discovered this antibacterial enzyme in 1922 while studying nasal mucus.
Ernst Boris Chain: A German-born biochemist who helped isolate and study penicillin at Oxford. Chain’s biochemical work helped make penicillin usable as a therapeutic substance.
Cecil George Paine: A British pathologist who used penicillin preparations to treat eye infections in the late 1920s. Paine’s early clinical uses followed Fleming’s discovery, before penicillin became a practical systemic drug.
Sulfonamide: A class of synthetic antimicrobial drugs that includes the first widely used systemic antibacterial medicines. Sulfonamides were already treating infections before penicillin became widely available.
Staphylococcus aureus: A bacterium that commonly inhabits human skin and can cause infections ranging from minor to life-threatening. Fleming was studying staphylococci when he noticed penicillin’s effect on nearby bacteria.
Norman Heatley: A British biochemist and physiologist who devised practical methods for extracting and producing penicillin. Heatley solved key technical problems in recovering enough penicillin for clinical trials.

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