The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Sir Alexander Fleming voted top figure from Scottish history
Penicillin pioneer beats Robert the Bruce to the top spot in YouGov poll
Sir Alexander Fleming has emerged as the most important figure in Scotland’s history, easily beating off competition from the likes of William Wallace, Alexander Graham Bell and Sir Alex Ferguson.
Polling firm YouGov asked more than 1,000 Scots to pick the top Scottish historical figure from a list of 11 influential people.
Fleming, the scientist who discovered penicillin and saved an estimated 200 million lives, got almost twice as many votes as his nearest rival, Robert the Bruce.
Those surveyed were asked: “Which one, if any, of the following historic figures do you believe has been most important to Scotland’s history?”
The biologist from Ayrshire, was way out in front as the most important among Scots with a whopping 28% of the vote.
In second-place was Robert the Bruce, who got 17% while William Wallace came in third place with 15% of the vote.
James Watt, the mechanical engineer who perfected the steam engine, got 10% of the vote.
Adam Smith, the father of modern economics, and James Keir Hardie, the first Labour member of parliament, were tied on 7%.
Surprisingly, Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, was left languishing some way back in the vote with only 6% of the vote.
It appears Scots do not rank historical achievements in sport as particularly important, as former Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, came last, with only 1% of the vote despite his record-breaking trophy haul.
Only 1% of the 1,051 Scots surveyed said that none of the people listed were who they would be consider to be Scotland’s most important historical figure.