Alexander Fleming vs Janis Joplin
Two music prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Alexander Fleming | Janis Joplin | |
| Field | Music | Music |
| Sub-field | Musician | Composer |
| Born | 1881 | 1943 |
| Died | 1955 | 1970 |
| Country of birth | SCT | United States |
| Star sign | Leo | Capricorn |
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 →
Janis Joplin
In June 1967, at the Monterey International Pop Festival in California, a twenty-four-year-old woman from Port Arthur, Texas, walked onto an outdoor stage with a psychedelic blues band called Big Brother and the Holding Company and sang "Ball and Chain" — a song originally recorded by Big Mama Thornton in 1952 — with such ferocity that the audience of 7,000 people went silent in the middle of the song before erupting at its close. Seated in the audience was Mama Cass Elliott of the Mamas and the Papas, one of the most commercially successful acts…
Full biography of Janis Joplin →
What they share
- Both are held here under Music.
- Their lifetimes overlap.
Where they part
- Born in different countries: SCT and United States.
- 62 years separate their births (1881 and 1943).
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Alexander Fleming or Janis Joplin?
- Alexander Fleming. Alexander Fleming was born in 1881, Janis Joplin in 1943.
- What field is each of them in?
- Alexander Fleming is filed under Music (Musician). Janis Joplin is filed under Music (Composer).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.