The Mistake that Saved Millions of Lives
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 a basic mistake.
Lucky breaks followed Fleming his whole life. Born in Scotland, he moved to London, where he graduated high school before he got 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. He initially wanted to become a surgeon, but while serving in a reserve regiment, he was recognized as a great marksman. To become a surgeon, he would have had to leave his medical school and move away – which would have meant leaving his unit. His commanding officer did not want to lose the promising reservist. So he introduced Fleming to a prominent researcher and immunologist, who convinced him to become a researcher instead.
