Alexander Fleming Discovers Penicillin by Accident
Alexander Fleming (1881 – 1955), was an unprepossessing Scottish doctor, pharmacologist, and microbiologist. There was not much in his decades-long career, prior to 1928, that indicated he would revolutionize medicine and save millions of lives worldwide. Until that year, his greatest career accomplishment had to do with research on enzymes. But in 1928, Fleming would discover penicillin, the antibiotic that would revolutionize medical care. As a result, untold millions of lives were saved in the decades since from fatal bacterial infections. And it happened by accident.
Fleming’s life was marked by lucky breaks and twists of fate. Born in Scotland, Fleming moved to London, where he graduated high school before getting a job in a shipping office. That might have become his career, but an uncle died four years later, and left Fleming an inheritance which allowed him to go to medical school. He initially intended to become a surgeon. But while serving in a reserve regiment, he became recognized as a great marksman. To become a surgeon, he would have had to leave his medical school and move away – which would have meant leaving his unit. His commanding officer did not wish to lose the promising reservist. So he introduced Fleming to a prominent researcher and immunologist, who convinced him to become a researcher instead.
During WWI, Fleming served in the Army Medical Corp, where he observed the deaths of many soldiers from uncontrollable infections. Antiseptics were used to fight infections, but they often did more harm than good. Fleming conducted research, which showed that antiseptics did nothing to stop the proliferation of anaerobic bacteria in deep wounds. It was initially rejected, but Fleming plugged on.
One day in 1922, while infected with a cold, he transferred some of his snot to a Petri dish. A slob, he then put it on his cluttered desk, where it was forgotten for a couple of weeks. When he finally remembered and examined it, the Petri dish was full of bacterial colonies. However, the microscope revealed that one area of snot was free of bacteria. Further examination revealed that it was due to the presence of an enzyme, which he called lysozyme, which had some antimicrobial properties. That laid the groundwork for his discovery of penicillin.
In 1928, Fleming, still a laboratory slob, left an uncovered Petri dish next to an open window, where it became contaminated with fungus spores. When he checked it under the microscope, Fleming discovered that the bacteria near the fungus were dying. He managed to isolate the fungus, and discovered that it was effective against numerous pathogens that caused diseases such as pneumonia, meningitis, diphtheria, scarlet fever, gonorrhea, and many more. Thus, penicillin was discovered. As Fleming put it: “I did not discover penicillin. Nature did that. I only discovered it by accident“.