Alexander Fleming

Hello! My name is Alexander Fleming, and I want to tell you about a discovery I made that changed the world. I was born on a farm in Scotland on August 6th, 1881. Growing up, I loved exploring the outdoors. I was very curious and paid close attention to all the little details in nature. This curiosity would become very important later in my life when I decided to become a doctor and a scientist. It was my job to help people, and my sharp eyes helped me see things others might have missed.

I went to school in London and became a doctor. During a big war called World War I, which started in 1914, I worked in hospitals helping soldiers. I saw that many soldiers got very sick from even small cuts because of nasty germs called bacteria. The medicines we had then could not stop these powerful germs, and it made me very sad to see so many people suffer. I wanted to find a way to fight these germs. In 1922, I discovered something in tears and saliva that could fight some germs, but it wasn't strong enough to help with the most dangerous ones. I knew I had to keep searching for a better answer.

Then, one day in September 1928, something amazing happened. I had been on vacation and came back to my laboratory, which was a bit messy! I was looking at some dishes where I was growing bacteria when I noticed something strange. One dish had a fuzzy green mold growing on it, like the kind you might see on old bread. But all around the mold, the bad bacteria had disappeared. It was like the mold had a secret weapon that created a clean circle around itself. I realized the mold was making a juice that could stop the bacteria from growing. I was so excited! I named this germ-fighting juice 'penicillin'. It was a happy accident that happened because I was observant.

At first, it was hard to make enough penicillin to use as a medicine. But two other clever scientists, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain, figured out how to make lots of it. Soon, my discovery was helping people all over the world get better from sicknesses that used to be very dangerous. In 1945, the three of us won a very special award called the Nobel Prize for our work. I lived to be 73 years old. People remember me for discovering penicillin, which started the age of antibiotics and has saved millions and millions of lives. It shows that sometimes, a messy desk and a curious mind can lead to a wonderful, happy accident.