Alexander Fleming

Timeline: 

6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955

Place of study: 

St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School, Paddington

Famous for: 

  • Discovery of the world’s first broadly effective antibiotic substance, benzylpenicillin (Penicillin G)
  • Discovery of the enzyme, lysozyme

Awards:

Fellow of the Royal Society (1943)

Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh (1945)

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1945)

TIME’s 100 Most Important People of the 20th century (1999)

Fun fact:

A statue of Alexander Fleming stands outside the main bullring in Madrid, Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas.