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| {{About|the biologist|other people named Alexander Fleming|Alexander Fleming (disambiguation)}} | |||
| {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}} | |||
| {{Use British English|date=September 2011}} | |||
| {{Infobox scientist | |||
| | name = Sir Alexander Fleming | |||
| | image = Synthetic Production of Penicillin TR1468.jpg | |||
| | caption = | |||
| | birth_date = {{birth date|1882|08|06|df=yes}} | |||
| | birth_place = ], ], Scotland | |||
| | death_date = {{Death date and age|1955|03|11|1881|08|6|df=yes}} | |||
| | death_place = London, England | |||
| | citizenship = British | |||
| | field = ], ] | |||
| | alma_mater = {{hlist|]|]|]}} | |||
| | doctoral_advisor = | |||
| | doctoral_students = | |||
| | known_for = ] | |||
| | influences = | |||
| | influenced = | |||
| | prizes = {{Plainlist| | |||
| * ] (1943)<ref name="frs">{{Cite journal | last1 = Colebrook | first1 = L. | authorlink1 = Leonard Colebrook| doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1956.0008 | title = Alexander Fleming 1881-1955 | journal = ] | volume = 2 | pages = 117–126 | year = 1956 | jstor = 769479| pmid = | pmc = }}</ref> | |||
| * ] (1945)<ref name="NobelPrizeBio" /> | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] (1944)}} | |||
| | signature = Alexander Fleming signature.svg | |||
| }} | |||
| '''Sir Alexander Fleming''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|FRS|FRSE|FRCS}}<ref name="frs"/> (6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish ], ], ] and ]. His best-known discoveries are the ] ] in 1923 and the world's first ] substance benzylpenicillin (Penicillin G) from the mould '']'' in 1928, for which he shared the ] in 1945 with ] and ].<ref name="lesprixnobel">{{cite web|title=Alexander Fleming Biography|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/fleming.html|work=Les Prix Nobel| publisher=The Nobel Foundation|year=1945|accessdate=27 March 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last= Hugh |first=TB | title = Howard Florey, Alexander Fleming and the fairy tale of penicillin | journal = The Medical Journal of Australia | volume = 177 | issue = 1 | pages = 52–53; author 53 53 | year = 2002 | pmid = 12436980 }}</ref><ref name="natureobit">{{cite journal | first= Robert |last=Cruickshank | title = Sir Alexander Fleming, F.R.S | journal = Nature | volume = 175 | issue = 4459 | pages = 663 | year = 1955 | pmid = | pmc = | doi = 10.1038/175663a0 | bibcode =1955Natur.175..663C }}</ref> He wrote many articles on bacteriology, immunology, and chemotherapy. | |||
| Fleming was ] for his scientific achievements in 1944.<ref>{{cite journal | last= McIntyre |first=N | title = Sir Alexander Fleming | journal = Journal of medical biography | volume = 15 | issue = 4 | pages = 234 | year = 2007 | pmid = 18615899 | doi=10.1258/j.jmb.2007.05-72}}</ref> In 1999, he was named in '']'' magazine's list of the ]. In 2002, he was chosen in the BBC's television poll for determining the ], and in 2009, he was also voted third "greatest Scot" in an opinion poll conducted by ], behind only ] and ]. | |||
| ==Early life and education== | |||
| Born on 6 August 1881 at Lochfield farm near ], in ], Scotland, Alexander was the third of the four children of farmer 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 was seven.<ref name="Fleming bio"/> | |||
| Fleming went to ] and Darvel School, and earned a two-year scholarship to ] before moving to London, where he attended the ].<ref name="Penicillin man">{{cite book|last1=Brown|first1=Kevin|title=Penicillin man : Alexander Fleming and the antibiotic revolution|date=2004|publisher=Sutton|location=Stroud|isbn=978-0750931526|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PP06AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT27&dq=Alexander+Fleming++Loudoun+Moor&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCsQ6AEwA2oVChMIha-wmdvvxwIVDwOSCh3y2wrE#v=onepage&q=Loudoun%20Moor&f=false|accessdate=11 September 2015}}</ref> After working in a shipping office for four years, the twenty-year-old Fleming inherited some money from an uncle, John Fleming. His elder brother, Tom, was already a physician and suggested to him that he should follow the same career, and so in 1903, the younger Alexander enrolled at ] in ]; he qualified with an ] degree from the school with distinction in 1906.<ref name="Fleming bio"/> | |||
| Fleming had been a private in the ] of the ] since 1900,<ref name="lesprixnobel" /> and had been a member of the rifle club at the medical school. 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 ], a pioneer in ] therapy and immunology. In 1908, he gained a ] degree with Gold Medal in ], and became a lecturer at St Mary's until 1914. | |||
| Fleming served throughout ] as a captain in the ], and was ]. He and many of his colleagues worked in battlefield hospitals at the ] in France. In 1918 he returned to ], where he was elected Professor of Bacteriology of the ] in 1928. In 1951 he was elected the Rector of the ] for a term of three years.<ref name="Fleming bio"/> | |||
| ==Research== | |||
| ===Work before penicillin=== | |||
| During World War I, Fleming witnessed the death of many soldiers from ] resulting from infected ]s. ]s, which were used at the time to treat infected wounds, often worsened the injuries.<ref name="SingMedJ">{{cite journal |last1=Tan |first1=SY |last2=Tatsumura |first2=Y |title=Alexander Fleming (1881–1955): Discoverer of penicillin |journal=Singapore Medical Journal |date=July 2015 |volume=56 |issue=07 |pages=366–367 |doi=10.11622/smedj.2015105 |pmc=4520913 |pmid=26243971}}</ref> In an article he submitted for the medical journal '']'' during World War I, 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 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 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.<ref name="Flavine">{{cite journal |last1=FLEMING |first1=ALEXANDER |title=THE PHYSIOLOGICAL AND ANTISEPTIC ACTION OF FLAVINE (WITH SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE TESTING OF ANTISEPTICS) |journal=The Lancet |date=September 1917 |volume=190 |issue=4905 |pages=341–345 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(01)52126-1 }}</ref> Sir ] strongly supported Fleming's findings, but despite this, most army physicians over the course of the war continued to use antiseptics even in cases where this worsened the condition of the patients.{{anchor|accidental discovery}}<ref name="Fleming bio">{{cite journal | last= Mazumdar |first=PM | title = Fleming as Bacteriologist: Alexander Fleming | journal = Science | volume = 225 | issue = 4667 | pages = 1140–1141 | year = 1984 | pmid = 17782415 | pmc = | doi = 10.1126/science.225.4667.1140 | bibcode = 1984Sci...225.1140C }}</ref> | |||
| At St Mary’s Hospital Fleming continued his investigations into antibacterial substances. Testing the nasal secretions from a patient with a heavy cold, he found that nasal mucus had an inhibitory effect on bacterial growth.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fleming |first=A |year=1922 |title=On a remarkable bacteriolytic element found in tissues and secretions |url= |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B |volume=93 |issue=653 |pages=306–317 |doi=10.1098/rspb.1922.0023}}</ref> This was the first recorded discovery of ], an enzyme present in many secretions including tears, saliva, skin, hair and nails as well as mucus. Although he was able to obtain larger amounts of lysozyme from egg whites, the enzyme was only effective against small counts of harmless bacteria, and therefore had little therapeutic potential.<ref name="SingMedJ" /> | |||
| ==Accidental discovery== | |||
| ] | |||
| {{Main article|History of penicillin}} | |||
| {{quote| When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn't plan to revolutionise all medicine by discovering the world's first antibiotic, or bacteria killer. But I suppose that was exactly what I did.|Alexander Fleming<ref name="isbn1-56308-159-8">{{cite book|last=Haven|first =Kendall F.|title=Marvels of Science : 50 Fascinating 5-Minute Reads|publisher=Libraries Unlimited|location=Littleton, Colo|year=1994|page= 182|isbn=1-56308-159-8}}</ref>}} | |||
| By 1927, Fleming had been investigating the properties of ]. 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 holiday 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 immediately surrounding the fungus had been destroyed, whereas other staphylococci colonies farther away were normal, famously remarking ''"That's funny"''.<ref name=Brown>Brown, K. (2004). ''Penicillin Man: Alexander Fleming and the Antibiotic Revolution''. 320 pp. Sutton Publishing. {{ISBN|0-7509-3152-3}}.</ref> Fleming showed the contaminated culture to his former assistant Merlin Price, who reminded him, "That's how you discovered ]."<ref>Hare, R. ''The Birth of Penicillin,'' Allen & Unwin, London, 1970</ref> Fleming grew the mould in a pure culture and found that it produced a substance that killed a number of disease-causing bacteria. He identified the mould as being from the '']'' genus, and, after some months of calling it ''"mould juice"'', named the substance it released '']'' on 7 March 1929.<ref>Diggins, F. ''The true history of the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming'' Biomedical Scientist, March 2003, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, London. (Originally published in the Imperial College School of Medicine Gazette)</ref> The laboratory in which Fleming discovered and tested penicillin is preserved as the ] in St. Mary's Hospital, ]. | |||
| He investigated its positive anti-bacterial effect on many organisms, and noticed that it affected bacteria such as staphylococci and many other ] pathogens that cause ], ], ] and ], but not ] or ], which are caused by ] bacteria, for which he was seeking a cure at the time. It also affected ''],'' which causes ] although this bacterium is Gram-negative. | |||
| Fleming published his discovery in 1929, in the British ''Journal of Experimental Pathology,''<ref name="pmid6994200">{{cite journal | last= Fleming |first=A | title = On the antibacterial action of cultures of a penicillium, with special reference to their use in the isolation of B. influenzae. (Reprinted from the British Journal of Experimental Pathology 10:226-236, 1929) | journal = Clin Infect Dis. | volume = 2 | issue = 1 | pages = 129–39 | year = 1980 | pmid = 6994200 | pmc = 2041430| doi = 10.1093/clinids/2.1.129 }}</ref> 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,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Rossiter|first=Peter|title=Keith Bernard Rogers|journal=BMJ|date=10 September 2010|quote=Keith was probably the first patient to be treated clinically with penicillin ointment.|pmc=1200632|page=579|volume=331|issue=7516|doi=10.1136/bmj.331.7516.579-c }}</ref> and he continued, until 1940, to try to interest a chemist skilled enough to further refine usable penicillin. Fleming finally abandoned penicillin, and not long after he did, ] and ] at the ] in Oxford took up researching and mass-producing it, with funds from the U.S. and British governments. They started mass production after the bombing of ]. By ] in 1944, enough penicillin had been produced to treat all the wounded in the ]. | |||
| ===Purification and stabilisation=== | |||
| {{refimprove section|date=September 2017}}<!--middle 2 paragraphs need citations--> | |||
| ] | |||
| In Oxford, ] and ] were studying the molecular structure of the antibiotic. Abraham was the first to propose the correct structure of penicillin.<ref>in October 1943 Abraham proposed a molecular structure which included a cyclic formation containing three carbon atoms and one nitrogen atom, the β-lactam ring, not then known in natural products. This structure was not immediately published due to the restrictions of wartime secrecy, and was initially strongly disputed, by Sir Robert Robinson among others, but it was finally confirmed in 1945 by Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin using X-ray analysis." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; "Abraham, Sir Edward Penley"</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-sir-edward-abraham-1093226.html|location=London|work=The Independent |first=Gordon|last=Lowe|title=Obituary: Sir Edward Abraham|date=13 May 1999}}</ref> Shortly after the team published its first results in 1940, Fleming telephoned ], Chain's head of department, to say that he would be visiting within the next few days. When Chain heard that Fleming was coming, he remarked ''"Good God! I thought he was dead."'' | |||
| ] 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 who had enough skill to make penicillin. But Sir ] said in 1998: "Without Fleming, no Chain; without Chain, no Florey; without Florey, no Heatley; without Heatley, no penicillin."<ref>Henry Harris, ''Howard Florey and the development of penicillin'', a lecture given on 29 September 1998, at the Florey Centenary, 1898–1998, Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, Oxford University (sound recording) </ref> | |||
| ===Antibiotics=== | |||
| ] | |||
| Fleming's accidental discovery and isolation of penicillin in September 1928 marks the start of modern ]. Before that, several scientists had published or pointed out that mould or ''penicillium sp.'' were able to inhibit bacterial growth, and even to cure bacterial infections in animals. ] in 1897 in his thesis "Contribution to the study of vital competition in micro-organisms: antagonism between moulds and microbes",<ref name="Duchesne 1897">, Antagonism between molds and bacteria. An English translation by Michael Witty. Fort Myers, 2013. ASIN B00E0KRZ0E and B00DZVXPIK.</ref> or also ] whose work at Institut Pasteur in 1923 on the inhibiting action of fungi of the "Penicillin sp" genre in the growth of staphylococci drew little interest from the direction of the Institut at the time. Fleming was the first to push these studies further by isolating the penicillin, and by being motivated enough to promote his discovery at a larger scale. Fleming also discovered very early that ] developed ] whenever too little penicillin was used or when it was used for too short a period. ] had predicted antibiotic resistance even before it was noticed during experiments. Fleming cautioned about the use of penicillin in his many speeches around the world. On 26 June 1945, he made the following cautionary statements "... the microbes are educated to resist penicillin and a host of penicillin-fast organisms is bred out... In such cases the thoughtless person playing with penicillin is morally responsible for the death of the man who finally succumbs to infection with the penicillin-resistant organism. I hope this evil can be averted."<ref>Infection Control And Hospital Epidemiology. (April 2012). Policy Statement on Antimicrobial Stewardship by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS). Retrieved from https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/48207C6BE27AB8C26F17672EF25F5808/S0195941700041175a.pdf/div-class-title-policy-statement-on-antimicrobial-stewardship-by-the-society-for-healthcare-epidemiology-of-america-shea-the-infectious-diseases-society-of-america-idsa-and-the-pediatric-infectious-diseases-society-pids-div.pdf</ref> 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 resistance to antibiotics develops. | |||
| ==Myths== | |||
| The popular story<ref>e.g., ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', 17 July 1945: Brown, ''Penicillin Man'', note 43 to Chapter 2</ref> of ] paying for Fleming's education after Fleming's father saved young ] from death is false. According to the biography, ''Penicillin Man: Alexander Fleming and the Antibiotic Revolution'' by ], Alexander Fleming, in a letter<ref>14 November 1945; British Library Additional Manuscripts 56115: Brown, ''Penicillin Man'', note 44 to Chapter 2</ref> to his friend and colleague Andre Gratia,<ref>see Misplaced Pages ] article entry for 1920</ref> described this as "A wondrous fable." Nor did he save Winston Churchill himself during ]. Churchill was saved by ], using ], since he had no experience with penicillin, when Churchill fell ill in ] in ] in 1943. '']'' and '']'' on 21 December 1943 wrote that he had been saved by penicillin. He was saved by the new sulphonamide drug ], known at the time under the research code M&B 693, discovered and produced by ], ], ] – a subsidiary of the French group ]. In a subsequent ], Churchill referred to the new drug as "This admirable M&B".<ref>A History of May & Baker 1834–1984, Alden Press 1984.</ref> It is highly probable that the correct information about the ] did not reach the newspapers because, since the original sulphonamide antibacterial, ], had been a discovery by the German laboratory ], and as Britain was at war with ] at the time, it was thought better to raise British morale by associating Churchill's cure with a British discovery, penicillin. | |||
| ==Awards and honours== | |||
| ] | |||
| ] (right) in 1945]] | |||
| ] postage stamp commemorating Fleming]] | |||
| ] sculptor ]. ]: jardins del Doctor Fleming.]] | |||
| His discovery of penicillin had changed the world of modern medicine by introducing the age of useful ]s; penicillin has saved, and is still saving, millions of people around the world.<ref>{{cite book|last=Roberts|first=Michael|title=Biology|year=2001|publisher=Nelson Thornes|isbn=0-7487-6238-8|pages=105|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=juiDySqWVYkC&pg=PT120|edition=2, illustrated|first2=Neil |last2=Ingram|accessdate=4 March 2012|quote=Penicillin is just one of a very large number of drugs which today are used by doctors to treat people with diseases.}}</ref> | |||
| The laboratory at St Mary's Hospital where Fleming discovered penicillin is home to the ], a popular London attraction. His alma mater, ], merged with ] in 1988. The ''Sir Alexander Fleming Building'' on the ] campus was opened in 1998, where his son Robert and his great granddaughter Claire were presented to the Queen and is now one of the main preclinical teaching sites of the ]. | |||
| His other alma mater, the Royal Polytechnic Institution (now the ]) has named one of its student halls of residence ''Alexander Fleming House'', which is near to ]. | |||
| * Fleming, Florey and Chain jointly received the ] 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 ] in 1989 and is on display after the museum re-opened in 2011.<ref>{{cite web|title=100,000 visitors in 6 days |url=http://www.nms.ac.uk/about_us/about_us/press_office/press_releases/2011/100,000_visitors_in_6_days.aspx |publisher=National Museums Scotland |date=3 August 2011 |accessdate=4 March 2012 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223192704/http://www.nms.ac.uk/about_us/about_us/press_office/press_releases/2011/100%2C000_visitors_in_6_days.aspx |archivedate=23 February 2012 }}</ref> | |||
| * Fleming was a member of the ].<ref name="lesprixnobel"/> | |||
| * Fleming was elected a ].<ref name="frs"/> | |||
| * Fleming was awarded the Hunterian Professorship by the ]. | |||
| * Fleming was ], as a ], by king ] in 1944.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=36544|date=2 June 1944 |page=2566 |supp=y}}</ref><ref>"People of the century". P. 78. CBS News. Simon & Schuster, 1999</ref> | |||
| * He was made a Knight Grand Cross of the ] in 1948. | |||
| * In 1999, '']'' magazine named Fleming one of the ], stating: | |||
| {{quote|It was a discovery that would change the course of history. The active ingredient in that mould, which Fleming named penicillin, turned out to be an infection-fighting agent of enormous potency. When it was finally recognized for what it was, the most efficacious life-saving drug in the world, penicillin would alter forever the treatment of bacterial infections. By the middle of the century, Fleming's discovery had spawned a huge ], churning out synthetic penicillins that would conquer some of mankind's most ancient scourges, including ], ] and ].<ref name="Time 100">{{cite news|title=Alexander Fleming – Time 100 People of the Century|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,990612,00.html|work=]|date=29 March 1999}}</ref>}} | |||
| * When 2000 was approaching, at least three large Swedish magazines ranked penicillin as the most important discovery of the millennium. | |||
| * In 2002, Fleming was named in the ] list of the ] following a nationwide vote.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/greatbritons/list.shtml/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20021204214727/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/greatbritons/list.shtml/|archivedate=4 December 2002|title=BBC – Great Britons – Top 100|work=]|accessdate=19 July 2017}}</ref> | |||
| * A statue of Alexander Fleming stands outside the main bullring in ], Plaza de Toros de ].<ref name="Lewine">Edward Lewine (2007). "Death and the Sun: A Matador's Season in the Heart of Spain". p. 123. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2007</ref> It was erected by subscription from grateful ]s, as penicillin greatly reduced the number of deaths in the bullring.<ref name="Lewine"/> | |||
| * Flemingovo náměstí is a square named after Fleming in the university area of the ] community in ]. | |||
| * A secondary school is named after him in ], ]. | |||
| * In ], a small square in the downtown district of Votanikos is named after Fleming and bears his bust. There is also a number of Streets in greater Athens and other towns in Greece named either after Fleming or his Greek second wife Amalia. | |||
| * In mid-2009, Fleming was commemorated on a new series of ] issued by the ]; his image appears on the new issue of £5 notes.<ref name="banknotes">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7828554.stm|title= Banknote designs mark Homecoming|date=14 January 2008| publisher=BBC News|accessdate=20 January 2009| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20090125014009/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7828554.stm| archivedate= 25 January 2009 | deadurl= no}}</ref> | |||
| * In 2009, Fleming was voted third greatest Scot in an opinion poll conducted by ], behind only Scotland's ] ] and national hero ].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://stv.tv/news/scotland/141018-robert-burns-voted-greatest-scot/ |title=Robert Burns voted Greatest Scot|work=]|date=30 November 2009|accessdate=7 February 2016}}</ref> | |||
| * ], an asteroid in the Asteroid Belt, is named after Fleming. | |||
| ==Personal life== | |||
| On 24 December 1915, Fleming married a trained nurse, Sarah Marion McElroy of ], ], Ireland. Their only child, Robert Fleming, (1924-2015) became a ]. After his first wife's death in 1949, Fleming married Dr. ], a ] colleague at St. Mary's, on 9 April 1953; she died in 1986.<ref>{{cite book|title=BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX OF FORMER FELLOWS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH 1783 – 2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0 902 198 84 X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf}}</ref> | |||
| From 1921 until his death in 1955, Fleming owned a country home in ], Suffolk.<ref> Retrieved 17 October 2016.</ref> | |||
| ==Death== | |||
| On 11 March 1955, Fleming died at his home in London of a ]. He was buried in ].<ref name="NobelPrizeBio">{{cite web |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/fleming-bio.html |title=Sir Alexander Fleming – Biography |publisher=Nobelprize.org |accessdate=25 October 2011 }}</ref> | |||
| ==References== | |||
| {{Reflist|30em}} | |||
| ==Further reading== | |||
| * | |||
| * ''Nobel Lectures, the Physiology or Medicine 1942–1962'', Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1964 | |||
| * ''An Outline History of Medicine''. London: Butterworths, 1985. Rhodes, Philip. | |||
| * ''The Cambridge Illustrated History of Medicine''. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Porter, Roy, ed. | |||
| * ''Penicillin Man: Alexander Fleming and the Antibiotic Revolution'', Stroud, Sutton, 2004. Brown, Kevin. | |||
| * ''Alexander Fleming: The Man and the Myth'', Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1984. ] | |||
| * ''Fleming, Discoverer of Penicillin'', Ludovici, Laurence J., 1952 | |||
| * ''The Penicillin Man: the Story of Sir Alexander Fleming'', Lutterworth Press, 1957, Rowland, John. | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| {{Wikiquote}} | |||
| {{commons category-inline|Alexander Fleming}} | |||
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