How Did Alexander Fleming Kill The Bacteria

Alexander Fleming was a German botanist, biologist, and pharmacologist who discovered the first antibiotic. He did this through a rather extraordinary happenstance. While working with the properties of the bacterium staphylococcus he left on vacation. When he got back and was cleaning out his work area he noticed that a few of the slides he’d been working on had been contaminated by fungus. Upon noting that the staphylococcus colonize bordering the fungus had died he began asking more questions. Namely what was it about the fungus that caused it to kill the bacteria?
Through more research he was able to single out a substance that the fungus was producing as the result of its biological processes. He called this substance “mould juice” for
a long time before naming it penicillin after the genus of mold that produces it: penicillium.
This was a breakthrough discovery for biology and for medicine. It was produces into an oral antibiotic and it was soon curing diseases that, in those days, typically killed. The impact of this discovery has been profound and far-reaching in the medical community. His research laid the foundation for all other antibiotics that have sense been developed.
His observation relied on the knowledge he already had as a botanist. He couldn’t have even happened upon the discovery had he not been working with the bacterial cultures to begin with. He stood on the backs of other before him even to have “chanced” at the discovery. It is quite amazing how one thing leads to another. Nothing is really chance. It’s all a matter of whether or not we have an inquisitive mind and take the time to notice things that seem ordinary.