Alexander Fleming

• Who was Alexander Fleming 


  1928-Fleming left a pile of petridishes containing bacteria open when he went on holiday. When he got back a mould had developed that had killed some of the bacteria. This was the first ANTIBIOTIC( penicillin ) he carried out experiments (such as one on another scientist with an infected eye ). He discovered it could kill the bacteria without harming other cells.( however he never wrote this down).
• Why did Fleming stop his experiments

  it didn’t appear to work on deeper infections and took ages to produce so Fleming stopped. He published a book describing penicillin as a potential antiseptic but he never mad great claims about its use as an antibiotic
• What was Flemings short term impact

  Discovery of penicillin sparked interest in treating infections and not just preventing them

  influenced and inspired others such as Florey and chain who later widespread penicillins use in Ww2
• What was Flemings long term impact

  Surgeries became safer

  Foundation of antibiotics that would go on to save 200 mil lives in 70years

  Research into new antibiotics
• How was Fleming limited

  Lack of initial recognition by the community due to his poor recording

  Difficulty in production

  Antibiotic resistance
• Who were Florey and Chain 


  1938-FandC read Flemings article and went to the British gov to try and get funding for mass production. They only got £25. They tested penicillin on ice and found it fought off infection.

  1941- tested on a person . It worked however they didn’t have enough of it so their test subject died.

  Following year due to Pearl Harbor, the Us gov were interested in Penicillin so funded production.By 1944 2.3 mil doses available.
• FAMOUS

  Fleming discovers first…

  Antibiotic made from…

  Mould. Developed into penicillin by…

  Others… Florey and Chain who travelled to the…

  US who raised funds for use in the …

  Second World War