Alexander Fleming vs Alfred Hitchcock
Two child prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Alexander Fleming | Alfred Hitchcock | |
| Field | Music | Film |
| Sub-field | Musician | Screenwriter |
| Born | 1881 | 1899 |
| Died | 1955 | 1980 |
| Country of birth | SCT | United Kingdom |
| Star sign | Leo | Leo |
Who they are
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 →
Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born on August 13, 1899, in Leytonstone, a quiet district of east London, to a greengrocer and his wife. He was a shy, overweight child who found that stories — their architecture, their capacity to generate unease — interested him more than almost anything else. His father once sent him to the local police station with a note, and the duty officer locked him in a cell for five minutes as a lesson in what happens to naughty boys. Hitchcock later described this as the defining trauma of his life, the…
Full biography of Alfred Hitchcock →
What they share
- Their lifetimes overlap.
- Both Leo.
Where they part
- Different fields: Music for Alexander Fleming, Film for Alfred Hitchcock.
- Born in different countries: SCT and United Kingdom.
- 18 years separate their births (1881 and 1899).
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Alexander Fleming or Alfred Hitchcock?
- Alexander Fleming. Alexander Fleming was born in 1881, Alfred Hitchcock in 1899.
- What field is each of them in?
- Alexander Fleming is filed under Music (Musician). Alfred Hitchcock is filed under Film (Screenwriter).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.