Penicillin discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928

Sir Alexander Fleming (6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish doctor and microbiologist. He shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Howard Florey and Ernst Chain for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases. This was the first antibiotic.

In 1928 he discovered benzylpenicillin, also called penicillin G, from the mould Penicillium rubens. It was described as a great victory against disease.

In 1922 he discovered the enzyme lysozyme in his nasal discharge. He named a bacterium Micrococcus lysodeiktikus, later Micrococcus luteus.

Fleming was knighted in 1944. In 1999 Time magazine listed him as one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century.

In 2002 he was included in the BBC's television poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.

In 2009 a poll by STV named him the third greatest Scot, behind only Robert Burns and William Wallace.