Sir Alexander Fleming (6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955) was a
ScottishScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
biologistA biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life.Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...
and pharmacologist. Fleming published many articles on bacteriology, immunology and chemotherapy. His best-known achievements are the discovery of the
enzymeEnzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process are called substrates, and the enzyme converts them into different molecules, called the products. Almost all processes in a biological cell need enzymes to occur at...
lysozymeLysozyme, also known as muramidase or N-acetylmuramide glycanhydrolase, are a family of enzymes which damage bacterial cell walls by catalyzing hydrolysis of 1,4-beta-linkages between N-acetylmuramic acid and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine residues in a peptidoglycan and between N-acetyl-D-glucosamine...
in 1923 and the
antibioticIn common usage, an antibiotic is a substance or compound that kills or inhibits the growth of bacteria...
substance
penicillinPenicillin is a group of antibiotics derived from Penicillium fungi. Penicillin antibiotics are historically significant because they are the first drugs that were effective against many previously serious diseases such as syphilis and Staphylococcus infections...
from the fungus
Penicillium notatum in 1928, for which he shared the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or MedicineThe Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded once a year by the Swedish Karolinska Institute. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, and Physiology or Medicine...
in 1945 with
Howard Walter FloreyHoward Walter Florey, Baron Florey OM, FRS was an Australian pharmacologist and pathologist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Ernst Boris Chain and Sir Alexander Fleming for his role in the extraction of penicillin...
and
Ernst Boris ChainSir Ernst Boris Chain was a German-born British biochemist, and a 1945 co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work on penicillin....
.
Early life
Fleming was born on 6 August 1881 at
LochfieldLochfield was a farm where Alexander Fleming and his 8 siblings grew up. It was near the small town of Darvel in East Ayrshire, Scotland....
, a farm near
DarvelDarvel is a small town in East Ayrshire, Scotland, located at the eastern end of the Irvine Valley and is sometimes referred to as "The Lang Toon" due to its quaint appearance on Ordnance Survey maps....
in
East AyrshireEast Ayrshire is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders onto North Ayrshire, East Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire, South Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway...
,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. He was the third of the four children of Hugh Fleming (1816 – 1888) from his second marriage to Grace Stirling Morton (1848 – 1928), the daughter of a neighbouring farmer. Hugh Fleming had four surviving children from his first marriage. He was 59 at the time of his second marriage, and died when Alexander (known as Alec) was seven.
Fleming went to Louden Moor School and Darvel School, and then for two years to
Kilmarnock AcademyKilmarnock Academy is a comprehensive school, one of several in Kilmarnock, a town in western Scotland. The school can trace its history back to the local burgh school founded in the 1630s. The first school to bear the name was established in 1807. In 1898 the school was moved to its current...
. After working in a shipping office for four years, the twenty-year-old Fleming inherited some money from an uncle, John Fleming. His older brother, Tom, was already a physician and suggested to his younger sibling that he follow the same career, and so in 1901, the younger Alexander enrolled at
St Mary's HospitalSt Mary's Hospital is a hospital located in Paddington, London, England. It was founded in 1845. It is operated by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, an academic health science centre, which also operates Charing Cross Hospital, Hammersmith Hospital, Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital and...
,
PaddingtonPaddington is an area of the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Formerly a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965...
,
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
. He qualified for the school with distinction in 1906 and had the option of becoming a surgeon.
By chance, however, he had been a member of the rifle club (he had been an active member of the
Volunteer ForceThe Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated with the British Army after the Childers Reforms in 1881, before forming part of the...
since 1900). The captain of the club, wishing to retain Fleming in the team suggested that he join the research department at St Mary's, where he became assistant bacteriologist to Sir
Almroth WrightSir Almroth Edward Wright, KBE, CB was a British bacteriologist and immunologist. He is best known for advancing vaccination through the use of autogenous vaccines and also through typhoid vaccination with typhoid bacilli killed by heat.-Biography:In the 19th century, Wright worked with the armed...
, a pioneer in
vaccineA vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains a small amount of an agent that resembles a microorganism...
therapy and immunology. He gained M.B. and then B.Sc. with Gold Medal in 1908, and became a lecturer at St. Mary's until 1914. On 23 December 1915, Fleming married a trained nurse, Sarah Marion McElroy of
KillalaKillala is a village in County Mayo in Ireland, north of Ballina. The railway line from Dublin to Ballina once extended to Killala. To the west of Killala is Townsplots West , which contains numerous ancient forts.- History :...
, Ireland.
Fleming served throughout
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
as a captain in the
Army Medical CorpsThe Royal Army Medical Corps is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all British Army personnel and their families in war and in peace...
, and was
mentioned in dispatchesMentioned in Despatches is a military award for gallantry or otherwise commendable service.A despatch is an official report from a senior commander, usually of an army, to his superiors, detailing the conduct of military operations....
. He and many of his colleagues worked in battlefield hospitals at the
Western FrontFollowing the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
in
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
. In 1918 he returned to St. Mary's Hospital, which was a teaching hospital. He was elected Professor of Bacteriology in 1928.
Work before penicillin
After the war Fleming actively searched for anti-bacterial agents, having witnessed the death of many soldiers from septicemia resulting from infected wounds. Unfortunately antiseptics killed the patients' immunological defences more effectively than they killed the invading bacteria. In an article he submitted for the medical journal
The LancetThe Lancet is a peer-reviewed general medical journal, published weekly.One of the world's best-known and most respected general medical journals, with editorial offices in London and New York, The Lancet was founded in 1823 by Thomas Wakley, who named it after the surgical instrument called a...
during
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
, Fleming described an ingenious experiment, which he was able to conduct as a result of his own glass blowing skills, in which he explained why antiseptics were actually killing more soldiers than infection itself during World War I. Antiseptics worked well on the surface, but deep wounds tended to shelter anaerobic bacteria from the antiseptic agent, and antiseptics seemed to remove beneficial agents produced that actually protected the patients in these cases at least as well as they removed bacteria, and did nothing to remove the bacteria that were out of reach. Sir
Almroth WrightSir Almroth Edward Wright, KBE, CB was a British bacteriologist and immunologist. He is best known for advancing vaccination through the use of autogenous vaccines and also through typhoid vaccination with typhoid bacilli killed by heat.-Biography:In the 19th century, Wright worked with the armed...
strongly supported Fleming's findings, but despite this, most army physicians over the course of WWI continued to use antiseptics even in cases where this worsened the condition of the patients.
Accidental discovery
"When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn't plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world's first antibiotic, or bacteria killer," Fleming would later say, "But I guess that was exactly what I did."
By 1928, Fleming was investigating the properties of
staphylococciStaphylococcus is a genus of Gram-positive bacteria. Under the microscope they appear round , and form in grape-like clusters....
. He was already well-known from his earlier work, and had developed a reputation as a brilliant researcher, but his laboratory was often untidy. On 3 September 1928, Fleming returned to his laboratory having spent August on vacation with his family. Before leaving he had stacked all his cultures of staphylococci on a bench in a corner of his laboratory. On returning, Fleming noticed that one culture was contaminated with a fungus, and that the colonies of staphylococci that had immediately surrounded it had been destroyed, whereas other colonies further away were normal. Fleming showed the contaminated culture to his former assistant Merlin Price who said "that's how you discovered
lysozymeLysozyme, also known as muramidase or N-acetylmuramide glycanhydrolase, are a family of enzymes which damage bacterial cell walls by catalyzing hydrolysis of 1,4-beta-linkages between N-acetylmuramic acid and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine residues in a peptidoglycan and between N-acetyl-D-glucosamine...
." Fleming identified the mold that had contaminated his culture plates as being from the
PenicilliumPenicillium is a genus of ascomycetous fungi of major importance in the environment, food and drug production...
genus, and—after some months' of calling it "mold juice"— named the substance it released
penicillinPenicillin is a group of antibiotics derived from Penicillium fungi. Penicillin antibiotics are historically significant because they are the first drugs that were effective against many previously serious diseases such as syphilis and Staphylococcus infections...
on 7 March 1929.
He investigated its positive anti-bacterial effect on many organisms, and noticed that it affected bacteria such as staphylococci, and many other
Gram-positiveGram-positive bacteria are those that are stained dark blue or violet by Gram staining. This is in contrast to Gram-negative bacteria, which cannot retain the crystal violet stain, instead taking up the counterstain and appearing red or pink...
pathogens that cause
scarlet feverScarlet fever is a disease caused by an erythrogenic exotoxin released by Streptococcus pyogenes. The term Scarlatina may be used interchangeably with Scarlet Fever, though it is commonly used to indicate the less acute form of Scarlet Fever that is often seen since the beginning of the twentieth...
,
pneumoniaPneumonia is an inflammatory illness of the lung. Frequently, it is described as lung parenchyma/alveolar inflammation and abnormal alveolar filling with fluid ....
,
meningitisMeningitis is inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, known collectively as the meninges. The inflammation may be caused by infection with viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms, and less commonly by certain drugs...
and
diphtheriaDiphtheria is an upper respiratory tract illness characterized by sore throat, low fever, and an adherent membrane on the tonsils, pharynx, and/or nasal cavity. A milder form of diphtheria can be restricted to the skin...
, but not
typhoid feverTyphoid fever, also known as enteric fever, Salmonella typhi or commonly just typhoid, is an illness. Common worldwide, it is transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with feces from an infected person. The bacteria then perforate through the intestinal wall and are phagocytosed...
or
paratyphoid feverParatyphoid fevers or Enteric fevers are a group of enteric illnesses caused by strains of the bacterium Salmonella paratyphi.There are three species of Salmonellae that cause paratyphoid: Salmonella paratyphi A, S. paratyphi B and S. paratyphi C Paratyphoid fevers or Enteric fevers are a group of...
—which are caused by
Gram-negativeGram-negative bacteria are those bacteria that do not retain crystal violet dye in the Gram staining protocol. In a Gram stain test, a counterstain is added after the crystal violet, coloring all Gram-negative bacteria with a red or pink color...
bacteria—for which he was seeking a cure at the time. It also affected
Neisseria gonorrhoeae, which causes gonorrhoea although this bacterium is Gram-negative.
Fleming published his discovery in 1929, in the British Journal of Experimental Pathology, but little attention was paid to his article. Fleming continued his investigations, but found that cultivating penicillium was quite difficult, and that after having grown the mould, it was even more difficult to isolate the antibiotic agent. Fleming's impression was that because of the problem of producing it in quantity, and because its action appeared to be rather slow, penicillin would not be important in treating infection. Fleming also became convinced that penicillin would not last long enough in the human body (
in vivo) to kill bacteria effectively. Many clinical tests were inconclusive, probably because it had been used as a surface antiseptic. In the 1930s, Fleming’s trials occasionally showed more promise, and he continued, until 1940, to try to interest a chemist skilled enough to further refine usable penicillin.
Fleming soon abandoned penicillin, and not long after Florey and Chain took up researching and mass producing it with funds from the U.S and British governments. They started mass production after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. When D-day arrived they had made enough penicillin to treat all the wounded allied forces.
Purification and stabilization
Ernst ChainSir Ernst Boris Chain was a German-born British biochemist, and a 1945 co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work on penicillin....
worked out how to isolate and concentrate penicillin. He also correctly theorised the structure of penicillin. Shortly after the team published its first results in 1940, Fleming telephoned Howard Florey, Chain's head of department to say that he would be visiting within the next few days. When Chain heard that he was coming he remarked "Good God! I thought he was dead".
Norman HeatleyNorman George Heatley was a member of the team of Oxford University scientists who developed penicillin.He was born in Woodbridge, Suffolk, and as a boy was an enthusiastic sailor of a small boat on the River Deben; an experience which gave him a lifelong love of sailing...
suggested transferring the active ingredient of penicillin back into water by changing its acidity. This produced enough of the drug to begin testing on animals. There were many more people involved in the Oxford team, and at one point the entire Dunn School was involved in its production.
After the team had developed a method of purifying penicillin to an effective first stable form in 1940, several clinical trials ensued, and their amazing success inspired the team to develop methods for mass production and mass distribution in 1945.
Fleming was modest about his part in the development of penicillin, describing his fame as the "Fleming Myth" and he praised Florey and Chain for transforming the laboratory curiosity into a practical drug. Fleming was the first to discover the properties of the active substance, giving him the privilege of naming it: penicillin. He also kept, grew and distributed the original mould for twelve years, and continued until 1940 to try to get help from any chemist that had enough skill to make penicillin. Sir Henry Harris said in 1998: "Without Fleming, no Chain; without Chain, no Florey; without Florey, no Heatley; without Heatley, no penicillin."
Antibiotics
Fleming's accidental discovery and isolation of penicillin in September 1928 marks the start of modern antibiotics. Fleming also discovered very early that
bacteriaThe bacteria are a large group of unicellular microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
developed
antibiotic resistanceAntibiotic resistance is the ability of a microorganism to withstand the effects of antibiotics. It is a specific type of drug resistance. Antibiotic resistance evolves via natural selection acting upon random mutation, but it can also be engineered by applying an evolutionary stress on a population...
whenever too little penicillin was used or when it was used for too short a period.
Almroth WrightSir Almroth Edward Wright, KBE, CB was a British bacteriologist and immunologist. He is best known for advancing vaccination through the use of autogenous vaccines and also through typhoid vaccination with typhoid bacilli killed by heat.-Biography:In the 19th century, Wright worked with the armed...
had predicted the
Antibiotic resistanceAntibiotic resistance is the ability of a microorganism to withstand the effects of antibiotics. It is a specific type of drug resistance. Antibiotic resistance evolves via natural selection acting upon random mutation, but it can also be engineered by applying an evolutionary stress on a population...
even before it was noticed during experiments. Fleming cautioned about the use of penicillin in his many speeches around the world. He cautioned not to use penicillin unless there was a properly diagnosed reason for it to be used, and that if it were used, never to use too little, or for too short a period, since these are the circumstances under which bacterial
resistanceAntibiotic resistance is the ability of a microorganism to withstand the effects of antibiotics. It is a specific type of drug resistance. Antibiotic resistance evolves via natural selection acting upon random mutation, but it can also be engineered by applying an evolutionary stress on a population...
to antibiotics develops.
Personal life
The popular story of
Winston Churchill's fatherRandolph Henry Spencer Churchill, was a British statesman.Lord Randolph was the third son of the 7th Duke of Marlborough and his wife Frances Anne Emily Vane-Tempest , daughter of the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry...
's paying for Fleming's education after Fleming's father saved young
WinstonSir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC was a British politician known chiefly for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II. He served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer...
from death is false. According to the biography,
Penicillin Man: Alexander Fleming and the Antibiotic Revolution by Kevin Brown, Alexander Fleming, in a letter to his friend and colleague Andre Gratia, described this as "a wondrous fable." Nor did he save Winston Churchill himself during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Churchill was saved by
Lord MoranCharles McMoran Wilson, 1st Baron Moran, MC is most famous for being Sir Winston Churchill's personal physician. He saved his life in 1943, but the story then became that Sir Alexander Fleming saved the Premier's life....
, using
sulphonamideThere are several sulfonamide-based groups of drugs. The original antibacterial sulfonamides are synthetic antimicrobial agents that contain the sulfonamide group. Some sulfonamides are also devoid of antibacterial activity, e.g., the anticonvulsant sultiame...
s, since he had no experience with penicillin, when Churchill fell ill in
CarthageCarthage refers both to an ancient city in present-day Tunisia, and a modern-day suburb of Tunis. The civilization that developed within the city's sphere of influence is referred to as Punic or Carthaginian...
in
TunisiaTunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast. Tunisia is located southwest of the island of Sicily and south of Sardinia. Its size is almost 165,000 km² with an estimated population of just...
in 1943. The
Daily Telegraph and the
Morning PostThe Morning Post, as the paper was named on its masthead, was a conservative daily newspaper published in London from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired by The Daily Telegraph.- History :...
on 21 December 1943 wrote that he had been saved by penicillin. He was saved by the new sulphonamide drug,
SulphapyridineOriginal laboratory code: M&B 693.Sulfapyridine, original UK spelling Sulphapyridine, is a sulfonamide antibacterial.Sulfapyridine is not prescribed for treatment in humans any more. However, it may be used to treat Linear IgA Disease. It is a good antibacterial drug, but its water solubility is...
, known at the time under the research code M&B 693, discovered and produced by
May & Baker LtdMay & Baker was a British chemical company.It was started by Mr. May and Mr. Baker in Wandsworth, London in 1851. They initially specialized in the manufacture of chemicals derived from Mercury and Bismuth...
,
DagenhamDagenham is a suburban town in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, situated east of Charing Cross, in East London.-Etymology:Dagenham as Dæccanhaam is first recorded in a charter of Barking Abbey dating from 687 AD...
,
EssexEssex is a county in the East of England region of the United Kingdom. The county town of Essex is Chelmsford.-History:In pre-Roman Britain the territories of Suffolk and Essex were home to the Trinovantes tribe, which had grown wealthy through intensive trade with the Roman Empire, contemporary...
- a subsidiary of the French group
Rhône-PoulencRhône-Poulenc was a French chemical and pharmaceutical company.-History:The Company was founded in 1928 through the merger of Société des Usines Chimiques du Rhône from Lyon and Établissements Poulenc Frères from Paris founded by Étienne Poulenc, a 19th century Parisian apothecary and brought to...
. In a subsequent radio broadcast, Churchill referred to the new drug as "This admirable M&B."It is highly probable that the correct information about the sulphonamide did not reach the newspapers because, since this drug had been a discovery by the German laboratory Bayer and the UK was at war with Germany at the time, it was thought better to raise British morale by associating Churchill's cure with the British discovery, penicillin.
Fleming's first wife, Sarah, died in 1949. Their only child,
Robert FlemingRobert Fleming was a Scottish financier, the founder of merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co.Born the son of a shopkeeper in Dundee, he launched the Scottish American Investment Trust in 1873, the first of the Scottish investment trusts...
, became a
general medical practitionerA general practitioner or GP is a medical practitioner who provides primary care and specializes in family medicine. A general practitioner treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes...
. After Sarah's death, Fleming married Dr.
Amalia Koutsouri-VourekasAmalia Koutsouri-Vourekas, Lady Fleming was a Greek doctor, activist and politician.Fleming was born in Constantinople in 1909. She moved to Greece and, during the Axis occupation, took part in the National Resistance, for which she was jailed by the Italians.In 1946, she received a scholarship...
, a Greek colleague at St. Mary's, on 9 April 1953; she died in 1986.
Death
In 1955, Fleming died at his home in London of a
heart attackMyocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, is the interruption of blood supply to part of the heart, causing some heart cells to die...
. He was cremated and his ashes interred in
St Paul's CathedralSt Paul's Cathedral is the Anglican cathedral on Ludgate Hill in the City of London and the seat of the Bishop of London. The present building dates from the 17th century and is generally reckoned to be London's fifth St Paul's Cathedral, not counting every major medieval reconstruction as a new...
a week later.
Honours, awards and achievements
His discovery of penicillin had changed the world of modern medicine by introducing the age of useful
antibioticIn common usage, an antibiotic is a substance or compound that kills or inhibits the growth of bacteria...
s; penicillin has saved, and is still saving, millions of people around the world.
The laboratory at St Mary's Hospital, London where Fleming discovered penicillin is home to the
Fleming MuseumThe Fleming Museum may refer to* Robert Hull Fleming Museum, University of Vermont This art museum has paintings by;Adrien Van De Velde,Lambert Doomer,Fragonard,and Romney.It has paintings by Vermont-connected painters like;Howard Giles,Paul Sample,and Charles Heyde.*Fleming Museum St Mary's...
. There is also a school in the Lomita area named
Alexander Fleming Middle School.
Imperial College also has a building named after him, the Sir Alexander Fleming Building. It is based in the South Kensington campus and is the site of much of the preclinical undergraduate medical teaching.
- Fleming, Florey, and Chain jointly received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1945. According to the rules of the Nobel committee a maximum of three people may share the prize. Fleming's Nobel Prize medal was acquired by the National Museums of Scotland
-List of national museums:* National Museums Scotland, comprising two linked museums on Chambers Street, in the Old Town of Edinburgh:** The Museum of Scotland - concerned with the history and people of Scotland...
in 1989, and will be on display when the Royal Museum re-opens in 2011.
- Fleming was awarded the Hunterian Professorship by the Royal College of Surgeons of England
- Fleming and Florey were knighted in 1944.
- Florey went on to be elected President of the Royal Society
The President of the Royal Society is the elected head of the Royal Society of London. The position is now awarded to a member of the scientific community of the British Commonwealth for a period of five years, and is one of the highest honours that can be bestowed upon a scientist..The changeover...
in 1943 and received the greater honour of a peerageThe Peerage is a system of titles in the United Kingdom, which represents the upper ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system. The term is used both collectively to refer to the entire body of titles, and individually to refer to a specific title...
in 1965 for his monumental work in making penicillin available to the public and saving millions of lives in World War II, becoming a Baron.
- The discovery of penicillin was ranked as the most important discovery of the millennium when the year 2000 was approaching by at least 3 large Swedish magazines. It is impossible to know how many lives have been saved by this discovery, but some of these magazines placed their estimate near 200 million lives.
- In 2009, Fleming is to be commemorated on a new series of banknotes issued by the Clydesdale Bank
Clydesdale Bank is a commercial bank in Scotland, a subsidiary of the National Australia Bank Group. In Scotland, Clydesdale Bank is the third largest clearing bank, although it also retains a branch network in London and the north of England...
; his image will appear on the new issue of £5 notes.
External links