Sir Alexander Fleming was a Scottish physician and microbiologist, best known for discovering the world's first broadly effective antibiotic substance, which he named penicillin. His discovery in 1928 of what was later named benzylpenicillin from the mould Penicillium rubens has been described as the "single greatest victory ever achieved over disease". For this discovery, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Howard Florey and Ernst Boris Chain.
Fleming in his laboratory, c. 1943
An advertisement advertising penicillin's "miracle cure"
Commemorative plaque marking Fleming's discovery of penicillin at St Mary's Hospital, London
Fleming in his laboratory in 1943
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's 1895 will, are awarded "to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind". Nobel Prizes are awarded in the fields of Physics, Medicine or Physiology, Chemistry, Literature, Economics and Peace.
Nobel was interested in experimental physiology and set up his own laboratories.
The reverse side of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine
Alexander Fleming's 1945 Nobel Prize medal for Physiology and Medicine on display at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh.
Emil von Behring received the first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1901.
