Which older brother suggested Fleming should become a physician? The answer is Tom.
Alexander Fleming’s older brother Tom was already a physician when Alexander was deciding what career to pursue. Tom suggested that his younger brother follow the same profession, helping steer him toward medicine rather than the shipping-office work he had been doing in London.
Fleming had worked in a shipping office for four years after moving to London. At age 20, he inherited money from his uncle John Fleming, giving him the opportunity to change direction. He enrolled at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School in 1903 and later qualified with distinction.
Tom’s advice was an important early influence, but it did not determine Fleming’s scientific specialty by itself. At St Mary’s, Fleming’s interest in research led him into bacteriology under Sir Almroth Wright, eventually setting the stage for his work on lysozyme and penicillin.