Triggered my microbiological enlightenment in elementary school. I became less germaphobic. (I blame those Swiffer wetjet commercials with the little bugs on everything).
It got me excited about science; a way to understand the world through my own experience and experimentation. I remember thinking, wow, anyone could have spit in a Petri dish and discovered those antibiotic effects. I wish I did first. Then he explored and documented the phenomena to understand it; and then 100 years later, you get a biography for kids like me to read. I used to want to be that guy so badly; to figure out something like that, something innate about the world that can really help people, and to be remembered through history for it. Real science heroes…