Alexander Fleming, a world renowned Scottish scientist and noteworthy medical figure is widely known for his 1928 discovery of penicillin, a drug that is used to kill harmful bacteria (antibiotic). His work in the following studies, immunology, bacteriology and chemotherapy, is considered medically and historically impacting and highly influential.

Fleming was born on August 6, 1881 in Ayrshire Scotland. Fleming didn't come from a family of scientists. He was raised from a family of farmers and had three siblings. Alexander Fleming had a very challenging childhood, his father died at the age fifty nine when Fleming was only seven years old. Fleming went on to go to school and earned two scholarships to Kilmarnock Academy before moving to London, England. After attending another school, Fleming used the money he inherited from his deceased uncle towards schooling. He later enrolled at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in 1903.

While he attended school, Fleming had been a private in the London Scottish Regiment of the Volunteer Force since 1900. After he was promoted to captain and winning a gold medal in bacteriology, he continued to progress in the army. Not only was Fleming the discoverer of penicillin, he later was called up to serve in the army throughout World War I, as a captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Fleming actively searched for anti-bacterial agents after having witnessed the death of many soldiers from sepsis. Sepsis, is a serious blood infection thats causes inflammation. This may result in organ damage, loss of blood flow to limbs and internal organs, depriving them of nutrients, oxygen and eventually death. The antiseptics used to treat sepsis, killed the patients more often than killing the invading bacteria. Fleming soon thought up a incredible experiment, which explained why the antiseptics were killing the soldiers instead of treating the infection.

After returning from war, he continued to research bacteriology at a university and experimented with several different types of bacteria. He continued to experiment with this fascinating science. And just before the annual holidays, he was conducting an experiment with bacteria inside of culture plates. Before going on holidays in 1928 Alexander made two mistakes. He didn't put all of his plates in bleach to sterilize them and he left the lab windows open. When he came back from holidays,