Biography on Sir Alexander Fleming

Biography on Sir Alexander Fleming

By Kevin Perkins

"The difficulty in science is often not so much how to make the discovery but rather to know that one has made it"- J.D. Bernal

Many discoveries that scientists have made have been by so called accidents. Scientists and researchers have stumbled upon many of the greatest and most helpful discoveries when they least expect it. While researching one thing, something goes wrong or right, depending on how you look at it, and an accidental discovery is made. In 1928 one of the greatest medical discovery was made, the first steps towards the first antibiotic was taken.

During World War I, battle field hospitals encountered infections so drastic that soldiers quickly died from them. A doctor named Alexander Fleming "felt there must be something, like a chemical that could help fight microbe infection even in wounds caused by exploding shells" (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bmflem.html). After the war Alexander Fleming started to search for an effective antiseptic that could kill bacterial infection without killing the patient. In the 1920’s Fleming "discovered lysozome, an enzyme occurring in many body fluids, such as tears. It had a natural antibacterial effect, but not against the strongest infectious agents" (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bmflem.html). The samples he used during his experiments were obtained from an unusual source, he used his own nasal mucus (snot).

Well doing experiments with lysozome, Alexander Fleming made his greatest discovery. Fleming was not like most scientist, he was very disorganised, he left thing all over his lab, and only cleaned things when it was necessary. Alexander Fleming left some culture plates in the sink well on vacation. When he returned he started straightening up a pile of culture plates where he had been growing bacteria. "He opened each one and examined it before tossing it into the cleaning solution. One made him stop and say, "That's funny." Some mold was growing on one of the dishes -- not too unusual -- but all around the mold, the staph bacteria had been killed" (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bmflem.html). Alexander Fleming had found what he was looking for, he called it penicillin. Not being a chemist he was unable to formulate a useful clinical compound that could be used in a practical situation.

A research group lead by "Howard Florey and Chain developed penicillin into a clinical antibiotic. They did this during 1940-41. Fleming, Florey, and Chain shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine" (http://clio.cshl.org/public/History/scientists/fleming.html). "Fleming became world-famous for penicillin, and was rightly acknowledged as the father of modern antibiotics, but Florey was miffed at being denied much of the credit for creating the powerful medical tool we now know" (http://clio.cshl.org/public/history/scientists/fleming.html).

Questions for Discussion

This episode shows that some discoveries are made by accident. If Alexander Fleming throw out the petri dish instead of studying it, do you think he or some other research group would have discovered penicillin by more conventional methods?

Knowing that some discoveries are accidental, do you think that many discoveries go unnoticed when they are happened apon or would all the accidental discoveries be made by more conventional methods?

Would you judge this to be an example of sloppy science, or is the episode characteristic of the progress of science?

Florey received the Nobel Prize for helping to produce a useful antibiotic, but did not receive much of the public credit. Alexander Fleming was unable to produce a useful product out of his penicillin. Florey feels that he should receive more public credit for making a useful antibiotic. Do you feel that Florey has received an appropriate amount of public credit for his contribution to the discovery of antibiotics?

References

Gwyn MacFarlane, Alexander Fleming: The man and the myth, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985.

http://clio.cshl.org/public/History/scientists/fleming.html