Penicillin discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928

Sir Alexander Fleming (6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish doctor and scientist. He shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Howard Florey and Ernst Chain for the discovery of penicillin and its healing power in many infections. This was the first medicine to fight many infections.

In 1928 he found benzylpenicillin (penicillin G) from the mould Penicillium rubens. Many people call this the greatest victory over disease.

He also found the enzyme lysozyme from his nasal discharge in 1922. He named a bacterium Micrococcus lysodeikticus, which later became Micrococcus luteus.

In 1944 he was knighted for his science work.

In 1999 Time magazine put him on its list of the 100 most important people of the 20th century. In 2002 the BBC chose him as one of the 100 Greatest Britons, and in 2009 he was voted the third greatest Scot in an STV poll, after Robert Burns and William Wallace.