Introduction to Eminent
“Nature makes penicillin; I just found it” – Alexander Fleming
Personal Connections
The person I chose to research this year for my eminent project is Alexander Fleming. What drew me to Alexander was how much of an impact his discovery of Penicillin has on our medication today. It has helped treat diseases such as Cystic Fibrosis, Strep throat, and many other bacterial infections. I have always had an interest in the medical sciences, as did Alexander. I would say that is a big interest that we have in common. I believe that there are two qualities we have in common. Perseverance and hard work. He perseveres when nobody notices his discovery for ten years and he works extra hard when people finally notice. Because of this, he was able to help the lives of so many people. One of my goals in TALONS is to find what I love to do and how I can help people with this. Alexander must be a great example for finding a job that he loves to do that also helps people. I find that very inspiring and motivating. I think that there is only one big barrier I have connecting with my eminent person and that is gender. I think I can address this, especially when we must dress up as our eminent person, by wearing the same outfit as he would, but I may have to wear a wig or be a gender-bent version of him.
Eminence
In approximately 1914-1918, Alexander Fleming served throughout World War I in the Army Medical Corps as a captain. In 1928 he accidentally discovered a mold. It that formed on a petri dish with a Staphylococcus culture in it. The mold looked almost like juice and when he observed it, he realized it was destroying bacteria. He then named this juice like mold penicillin and started to focus his research on it.
I believe these were two of the biggest ways he contributed to his field in a positive way. Alexander Fleming’s discovery will be remembered as it was one of the first antibiotics discovered and maybe penicillin will still be used for years to come. I hope that he is also remembered along with his discovery.
I think that A challenge that Alexander faced was how long it took for people to notice and work on his discovery. It took approximately ten years. He overcame this obstacle by working on it during those years. However, he did give up until Howard Florey, Ernst Boris Chain and many others found his research and started working on it. They worked alongside Alexander and Penicillin became a success and medication has never been the same since.
Alexander is worth researching because of his impact on the world today. Without his discovery, a lot of treatable diseases such as strep throat would be a lot more harmful or deadly. Out of everyone in the field of medical sciences, I chose him because he helped create one of the first antibiotics. This to me is so important. An antibiotic is something people use very often and has a huge impact on modern-day medicine. A piece of wisdom I took away from researching him is that you will never know when you are going to change the world or impact someone. A quote he said once was:
“One sometimes finds what one is not looking for. When I woke up just after dawn on Sept. 28, 1928, I certainly didn’t plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world’s first antibiotic, or bacteria killer. But I guess that was exactly what I did.” – Alexander Fleming
This quote to me is very motivational and portrays that you never know if something you do will impact the world or someone in a positive way. I believe that if you do something you love then maybe someday you can impact the world just like Alexander Fleming.
For the next phase of my research, I would like to build off what I have already and research more in-depth about him. I have only scraped the surface of his eminence and I am interested to learn more.
References:
Nobel Prizes 2021. (n.d.). NobelPrize.Org. Retrieved October 18, 2021, from https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1945/fleming/biographical/
Alexander Fleming Quotes. (n.d.). Quotefancy. Retrieved October 21, 2021, from https://quotefancy.com/alexander-fleming-quotes
Cool Kid Facts. (2020, September 2). Alexander Fleming Fun Facts. Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://www.coolkidfacts.com/alexander-fleming/
A. (2020, March 21). Top 10 remarkable facts about Sir Alexander Fleming. Discover Walks Blog. Retrieved October 20, 2021, from https://www.discoverwalks.com/blog/london/top-10-remarkable-facts-about-sir-alexander-fleming/
October 24, 2021 at 11:22 pm
Hi Natalie. I really enjoyed reading your blog post and all of the detail you put into it. Your personal connection is very evident and I can tell how interested you are in Alexander Fleming and his work. I also really liked how you put a quote at the beginning and another one in to support your statements. One thing that you could do to improve for next time would be to break up your first paragraph as it is a bit long. But other then that you did a great job and I can see how interested you are in Alexander Fleming.
Matthias
October 25, 2021 at 1:52 am
Hey Natalie!
I really liked the look of your post and all the background information you put on Alexander Fleming’s life and accomplishments. I appreciate how you told his story and the story of his discovery; it added to the effectiveness of your paragraph. I also thought that your personal connection to him and goal for TALONS is really admirable. The one piece of feedback I have is to just maybe take one more look over the capitalization and tenses of the writing. Other than that, I thought it was really well done and interesting!
Bridget
October 25, 2021 at 4:48 am
Hi Natalie,
I found your post to be really interesting and enjoyable to read and it definitely looks like you are very interesting in Alexander Fleming. The post was very detailed, but not to the point where it got boring to read. Your use of the quote also gave a lot of insight into what kind of a person Fleming was. One critique I have is to maybe be more concise in your wording, especially in your first paragraph, which would definitely make it easier for people to read. I don’t really have any other concerns, and everything was quite clear for me to understand.
Colin
October 25, 2021 at 5:21 am
Hi Natalie,
I really enjoyed how you included a hyperlink in the middle of your text and your insightful personal connections. I love how your connections to Alexander Fleming relate to your passions in medicine, I think by choosing him as your eminent person will help moving forward with your TALONS goal. One minor detail I would say to improve on for next time would be to watch out for spelling and grammar mistakes. Other than that, you post was really well done, thanks for sharing!
-Rian
October 25, 2021 at 5:58 am
Hi Natalie,
I like how you emphasized Fleming’s achievements and their impact on the modern world. I also like how addressed the barrier(s) between you and Fleming and how you would deal with them later on during your presentation. One critique I have is to improve grammar and conciseness, as there are some grammatical or punctuation errors that make it bumpy to read. Otherwise, this is a very informative post.