SIR ALEXANDER FLEMING - Discoverer of Penicillin  
(1881-1955) As Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons in London, he conducted research which resulted in the discovery of penicillin. Fleming was knighted and received the Nobel Prize in 1944.

MARGARET FERGUSON - Botanist
(1863-1951) She received a Ph.D in 1901 at Cornell and then became professor in botany at Wellesley College and head of the department from 1902 to 1930. Concluding her research in 1938, she left Wellesley to be with her family in Upstate New York. She was elected the first woman president of the Botanical Society of America and became a Fellow of the New York Academy of Science. Wellesley honored her in 1946 by naming after her the greenhouses she had designed and directed.

ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL - Inventor
Alexander Graham Bell, famous as the inventor of the telephone, was born in Edinburgh March 3, 1847. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh and in 1870 went to Canada with his father. He is also known for his work with the deaf and in addition to the telephone, he invented the photophone, described as an instrument for transmitting sound by light. In the United States, he was at one point President of the National Geographic Society. He died August 2, 1922.

JOHN PAUL JONES - Father of the American Navy
The year 2007 is the 260tn anniversary of the birth (July 6, 1747) of John Paul Jones. Duncan A. Bruce, in his book, "The Mark of the Scots," provides this account: "John Paul Jones...was the first  naval officer commissioned by the Continental Congress and is considered to have been the founder of the American Navy....In 1779 Jones, commanding the "Bon Homme Richarde,". engaged the British "Serapis"..in one of the world's most famous naval actions.  When the battle seemed to be going against the Americans, the British commander called upon Jones to surrender, causing him to shout his immortal reply, 'I have not yet begun to fight.' Jones won the battle and became a hero."

ROBERT MacNEIL - Broadcaster and Author
Robert MacNeil is known internationally as an author and co-anchor of the PBS broadcast, The MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour. Born in Canada, he was a correspondent for the BBC in London and left in 1971 to co-anchor the Public Television program that has received numerous awards. He is also known as the author of several books, "The Right Place at the Right Time," "Wordstruck," "The Story of English," and others.

JAMES WILSON - Statesman and Jurist
(1742-1798) Wilson studied at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow and in 1766 came to America. Two  years later he was admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania to become associate justice of the first Supreme Court of America.

JAMES NAISMITH - Inventor of Game of Basketball
(1861-1929) Born in Almonte, Canada, he graduated from McGIll University with honors and later was associated with the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, where in 189l he invented the game of basketball. In 1925 he became a U.S. naturalized citizen. The James Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame is in Springfield, Massachusetts.