How Old Was Alexander Fleming When He Died
Alexander Fleming died on March 11, 1955, at the age of 74. He was buried at St. Paul's Cathedral in London.
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Today the entire world remembers Fleming due to his greatest discovery of Penicillin. This great bacteriologist started his career in medicine after he finished his schooling in 1901. He entered St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in Paddington, which later became a part of the University of London. It was during the World War I, when the grave situation of dying soldiers due to infection compelled Fleming to discover some anti-bacterial agent. In 1928, he accidentally discovered what he always wanted to do - a blue mold (Penicillium notatum) which was quite effective to fight with the infection and was able to heal it as well.
However, this substance could not be used for injection until freed from foreign particles. Also no certain method of extraction was available as such. Moreover, Fleming did not get any help or support from the medical community for his work. Due to his little knowledge of chemistry, he needed an assistant or colleague as a chemist or biochemist. So he encouraged others to work further on his discovery.
In 1939, Ernst B. Chain, a Jewish chemist from Germany, came to Oxford University and undertook further lead on penicillin. With a great team effort, this magical cure was successfully available in the market by 1944. Alexander Fleming was awarded with a Nobel Prize in 1945 for his great service to the mankind but he never collected any royalties for penicillin. This great man devoted his entire life to protect and serve the humanity.
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Sir Alexander Fleming, born on 6th August 1881 was a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist. He was knighted and honored with Nobel Prize in 1945 for his excellence in medicine, when he invented Penicillin along with Florey and Chain. 