Sir Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) was a British bacteriologist, discoverer of penicillin, born in Darvel, Scotland. He studied at Kilmarnook Academy and St. Mary's Hospital Medical School, London, where he became professor of bacteriology. In 1922 he identified the protein lysozyme. In 1928 he discovered that the mold Penicillium notatum had an inhibiting effect on the growth of a staphylococcus culture. From the mold Fleming extracted an active principle, which he named penicillin. A decade later, research by Howard Florey and his associates at Oxford placed penicillin among the recognized antibacterial drugs. Fleming was created a knight in 1944. In 1945 he shared the Nobel prize in physiology and medicine with Howard Florey and Ernst Boris Chain.
