26. A Mistake That Revolutionized Medicine
Alexander Fleming (1881 – 1955) was an unprepossessing Scottish doctor, pharmacologist, and microbiologist. Until 1928, there had been little in his decades-long career to indicate that he would revolutionize medicine and save millions of lives worldwide. Until that year, his greatest career accomplishment had to do with research on enzymes. Then Fleming discovered penicillin, the antibiotic that revolutionized medical care and saved millions of lives from fatal bacterial infections. It happened by accident, because of sloppiness and basic mistakes.
Fleming’s life was full of lucky breaks. Born in Scotland, he moved to London, where he graduated high school before getting a job in a shipping office. That might have become his career, but an uncle died four years later, and left Fleming an inheritance that allowed him to go to medical school.
