Question: Which Scottish scientist discovered penicillin?
Show answer
Alexander Fleming.
The discovery of penicillin, the world’s first true antibiotic, was made by the Scottish scientist Sir Alexander Fleming. Born in Lochfield, Scotland, in 1881, Fleming was a bacteriologist working at St. Mary’s Hospital in London. His groundbreaking discovery occurred somewhat by chance in 1928.
Fleming was conducting research on staphylococci, a type of bacteria, when he noticed that a petri dish containing the bacteria had been contaminated by a mold (later identified as Penicillium notatum). Intriguingly, the area around the mold was clear, suggesting that it was secreting something that inhibited bacterial growth. This observation led Fleming to isolate the mold and identify the antibacterial substance it produced, which he named penicillin.
Despite the potential he saw in penicillin, Fleming lacked the resources to purify and properly test it. The further development of penicillin for medical use was carried out by a team of scientists at Oxford University, including Howard Florey and Ernst Chain, during the Second World War. The mass production of penicillin marked a turning point in medicine, saving countless lives from bacterial infections.
Fleming, Florey, and Chain were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 for their work on penicillin. Sir Alexander Fleming’s discovery was a monumental breakthrough in the field of medicine, transforming our ability to treat infections and establishing the foundation of modern antibiotics.
