5. Luck and Twists of Fate Save Millions
Throughout much of his career, there was little to indicate that Alexander Fleming (1881 – 1955) would someday change the world. He was an unprepossessing Scottish doctor, pharmacologist, and microbiologist. Not much in Fleming’s decades of work prior to 1928 heralded his revolutionizing medicine. Until that year, his greatest accomplishment had to do with research on enzymes. But in 1928, Fleming discovered penicillin, the antibiotic that would upend medical care. As a result, millions of patients in the decades since survived deadly infections thanks to penicillin. Incredibly, it all happened by accident.
Lucky breaks and twists of fate marked Fleming’s life. Born in Scotland, he moved to London, where he graduated high school before getting a job in a shipping office. Fleming may have resigned to stay in this position. But an uncle died four years later, leaving Fleming enough of an inheritance to pay for medical school. He initially wanted to become a surgeon. However, while serving in a reserve regiment, Fleming became a great marksman. To become a surgeon, he must leave his medical school and move away – which meant leaving his unit. His commanding officer did not wish to lose the promising reservist, so he introduced Fleming to a prominent researcher and immunologist. He convinced him to become a researcher instead.
