Churchill, Rutherford and Fleming
The 20th century1901 to 1945
Winston Churchill led Britain through the Second World War, and by then he had already spent decades in politics: he first became a Conservative MP in 1900, long before the country turned to him as its wartime leader. Despite guiding Britain to victory, he lost power almost immediately afterward, losing the General Election in 1945 just as the fighting in Europe ended.
A team led by Ernest Rutherford, working first in Manchester and later in Cambridge, had been the first to split the atom, laying groundwork that fed into the research behind the atomic bomb. In 1945, Alexander Fleming was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his discovery of penicillin, a drug that was by then in mass production.
What to remember
| Britain in the Second World War | Winston Churchill He became Prime Minister in May 1940, as German forces advanced through France, and refused to surrender. |
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| The team that first split the atom | Ernest Rutherford Their work at Manchester and Cambridge fed into the Manhattan Project. |
| Alexander Fleming winning the Nobel Prize in Medicine | 1945 His discovery of penicillin was recognised with the Nobel Prize. |
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| Winston Churchill becoming a Conservative MP | 1900 He entered Parliament decades before leading Britain in the Second World War. |
| Winston Churchill losing the General Election | 1945 He lost office just after leading Britain to victory in Europe. |
| Won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1945 | Alexander Fleming |
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Everything in The 20th centuryor the whole course, from the beginning