Alexander Fleming was born on August 6, 1881, in Lochfield, a rural area near Darvel in Ayrshire, Scotland.¹⁾

He was the third of four children born to farmer Hugh Fleming and his wife Grace Stirling Morton.²⁾

Fleming's family had humble beginnings, and he grew up in a farming community where he developed a love for nature and science.³⁾

At the age of 13, Fleming moved to London to live with his older brother, where he attended the Regent Street Polytechnic.⁴⁾

He later enrolled at St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in Paddington, London, to study medicine.⁵⁾

Fleming served as a Private in the London Scottish Regiment of the British Army during World War I, where he witnessed firsthand the horrors of infection and inadequate medical care.⁶⁾

After the war, Fleming returned to St. Mary's Hospital as a lecturer and researcher.⁷⁾