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Inventors and Inventions
 Sir Alexander Fleming

Sir Alexander Fleming
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 6 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   6.62

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    enzyme, countryside, inheritance, penicillin, saliva, spotlight, regiment, manufacture, recognition, immediately, wounds, blob, medical, attack, aside, unable
     content words:    Alec Fleming, Alexander Fleming, Boer War, World War, World War II, Oxford University, Howard Florey, Ernst B., United States Department, Nobel Prize

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Sir Alexander Fleming
By Mary L. Bushong 		  
1     From his beginnings on a sheep farm in a remote part of Scotland, Alec Fleming went on to become a celebrated doctor and researcher in London, England. It was through his efforts that millions of lives were eventually saved.
 
2     Alexander Fleming was born in Scotland on August 6, 1881. The second youngest of eight children, he and his siblings enjoyed roaming the countryside around their farm as they grew up. Their quiet lives were broken up when Alec was about 14. That was when his father died. His eldest brother took over the family farm. Another brother, Tom, was a doctor and was establishing a new practice in London. He was soon joined by five of his siblings, including Alec.
 
3     After finishing school, Alec tried working at a shipping company, but he did not like it. In 1900, when the Boer War broke out, he and two brothers joined a Scottish regiment, but they never made it to the Transvaal. Alec received a small inheritance from an uncle and decided he wanted to go to medical school. He got the highest score on his examinations and the choice of any of the medical schools.

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