Alexander Fleming's Birthday
Next: August 6, 2027
A mouldy plate that changed medicine.
The story
Where it comes from
Alexander Fleming was born at Lochfield Farm near Darvel, Scotland, on 6 August 1881, and this Story marks his birthday. After four years in a shipping office he trained in medicine at St Mary's in London, where he went on to research and teach. In 1928 he noticed that a mould growing by accident on a plate of staphylococcus bacteria had cleared a bacteria-free circle around itself. He named the active substance penicillin. Others later turned it into a medicine that has saved millions of lives, and in 1945 he shared the Nobel Prize for its discovery.
How it's celebrated
There is no formal observance. It is a good day to thank the scientists, doctors and nurses whose medicines we take for granted, and to remember Fleming's own advice: antibiotics work best when they are used properly, exactly as prescribed. Curious children can see his idea at work by watching what grows on a slice of bread left in a sealed bag.
Did you know
- In 1921, years before penicillin, he discovered lysozyme, an antibacterial enzyme found in tears and saliva.
- He found that his mould culture still stopped staphylococci growing when it was diluted 800 times.
- In his 1945 Nobel lecture he warned that taking too little of the drug could make microbes resistant to it.
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