In a scientific tour de force, Florey, Chain and their colleagues rapidly purified penicillin in sufficient quantity to perform the experiment that Fleming could not: successfully treating mice that had been given lethal doses of bacteria. Within a year, their results were published in a seminal paper in the Lancet. As the world took notice, they swiftly demonstrated that injections of penicillin caused miraculous recoveries in patients with a variety of infections.

The Oxford team did not stop there. Rushing to meet the needs of World War II, they helped the government set up a network of "minifactories" for penicillin production. Florey also played a crucial role in galvanizing the large-scale production of penicillin by U.S. pharmaceutical companies in the early 1940s. By D-day there was enough penicillin on hand to treat every soldier who needed it. By the end of World War II, it had saved millions of lives.

Pneumonia, syphilis, gonorrhea, diphtheria, scarlet fever and many wound and childbirth infections that once killed indiscriminately suddenly became treatable. As deaths caused by bacterial infections plummeted, a grateful world needed a hero. Fleming alone became such an object of public adulation, probably for two reasons. First, Florey shunned the press, while Fleming seemed to revel in the publicity. Second, and perhaps more important, it was easier for the admiring public to comprehend the deductive insight of a single individual than the technical feats of a team of scientists.

Awards and accolades came to Fleming in rapid succession, including a knighthood (with Florey) in 1944 and the Nobel Prize for Medicine (with Florey and Chain) in 1945. By this time, even Fleming was aware that penicillin had an Achilles' heel. He wrote in 1946 that "the administration of too small doses ... leads to the production of resistant strains of bacteria." It's a problem that plagues us to this day.

When he died of a heart attack in 1955, he was mourned by the world and buried as a national hero in the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. Although Fleming's scientific work in and of itself may not have reached greatness, his singular contribution changed the practice of medicine. He deserves our utmost recognition. At the same time, we must bear in mind that the "Fleming Myth," as he called it, embodies the accomplishments of many giants of antibiotic development. Fleming is but a chosen representative for the likes of Florey, Chain, Domagk, Selman Waksman and Rene Dubos, many of whom remain, sadly, virtual unknowns. Their achievements have made the world a better, healthier place. In commemorating Fleming, we commemorate them all.

Dr. David Ho is director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York City and TIME's 1996 Man of the Year

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