Alexander Alekhine vs Alexander Fleming
Two child prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Alexander Alekhine | Alexander Fleming | |
| Field | Sports | Music |
| Sub-field | Chess | Musician |
| Born | 1892 | 1881 |
| Died | 1946 | 1955 |
| Country of birth | France | SCT |
| Star sign | Scorpio | Leo |
Who they are
Alexander Alekhine
When Alexander Alekhine arrived in Buenos Aires in September 1927 to challenge José Raúl Capablanca for the World Championship, the chess world expected a formality. Capablanca had not lost a competitive game in eight years. Grandmasters whispered that chess had reached its apex in the Cuban — that the game, played perfectly, would always draw, and that Capablanca was the player who played perfectly. Alekhine, a Russian émigré living in France, was a fine attacking player, perhaps the best combinational talent of his generation, but attacking chess against someone who never made errors was considered…
Full biography of Alexander Alekhine →
Alexander Fleming
In September 1928, a Scottish bacteriologist returned from his summer holiday to a cluttered laboratory at St Mary's Hospital in London, and noticed something unusual on a petri dish he had left behind. A mould had contaminated one of his cultures of Staphylococcus bacteria — and around the mould, the bacteria were dead. Alexander Fleming did not immediately grasp that he had just made the most important medical discovery of the twentieth century. But he was curious enough to look more carefully, and careful enough not to throw the dish away. That decision would eventually…
Full biography of Alexander Fleming →
What they share
- Their lifetimes overlap.
Where they part
- Different fields: Sports for Alexander Alekhine, Music for Alexander Fleming.
- Born in different countries: France and SCT.
- 11 years separate their births (1892 and 1881).
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Alexander Alekhine or Alexander Fleming?
- Alexander Fleming. Alexander Alekhine was born in 1892, Alexander Fleming in 1881.
- What field is each of them in?
- Alexander Alekhine is filed under Sports (Chess). Alexander Fleming is filed under Music (Musician).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.