Sir Alexander Fleming revolutionised the medical world when he discovered antibiotics. He ensured that, for the last 70 years at least, diseases such as tuberculosis and smallpox are now treatable and no longer pose the threat to society that they once did. Invasive surgeries can now be carried out with a massively-diminished risk of post-operative infection. Antibiotics are also an essential part of post-chemotherapy recuperation as this process has a debilitating affect on the body’s natural defences. One of the great scientific ‘accidents,’  Fleming noticed one day that mould growing on some of his petri dishes formed a ring free of bacteria. This mould was used to synthesize penicillin, which would go on to save millions of lives and won him the Nobel Prize in 1945.