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{{short description|
{{Use American English|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Selman Waksman
| image = Selman Waksman NYWTS.jpg
| caption = Waksman in 1953
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Nova Pryluka, [[
| death_date =
| death_place = [[Woods Hole, Massachusetts]]
| alma_mater = [[Rutgers University]] <br> [[University of California, Berkeley]]
| doctoral_advisor = [[Thorburn Brailsford Robertson|T. Brailsford Robertson]]
| citizenship = United States
| fields = [[Biochemistry]] and [[Microbiology]]
| prizes = {{no wrap|[[Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research]] {{small|(1948)}}<br />[[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] {{small|(1952)}} <br />[[Leeuwenhoek Medal]] {{small|(1950)}}}} | spouse = Deborah B. Mitnik (died 1974)
| children = Byron H. Waksman (1919–2012)<ref>{{cite journal|title=Byron H. Waksman, M.D. (AAI '50) 1919–2012|journal=The Journal of Immunology|volume=189|issue=8|year=2012|pages=3783–3784|issn=0022-1767|doi=10.4049/jimmunol.1290059|s2cid=220253897|doi-access=free}}</ref>
}}
'''Selman Abraham Waksman''' (July 22, 1888 – August 16, 1973) was a Jewish
In 2005, Selman Waksman was granted an [[ACS National Historic Chemical Landmarks|ACS National Historic Chemical Landmark]] in recognition of the significant work of his lab in isolating more than 15 antibiotics, including streptomycin, which was the first effective treatment for [[tuberculosis]].<ref name= "ACSLandmarks">{{cite web | title = Selman Waksman and Antibiotics | work = National Historic Chemical Landmarks | publisher = [[American Chemical Society]] | url = http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/selmanwaksman.html | access-date = 2014-02-21 }}</ref>
==Early life and education==
Selman Waksman was born on July 22, 1888 (July 8 according to the old Russian calendar<ref>{{Cite web |title=Selman Waksman and Antibiotics - Landmark |url=https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/selmanwaksman.html |access-date=2022-10-03 |website=American Chemical Society |language=en}}</ref>), to [[Jewish]] parents, in Nova Pryluka, [[
Waksman attended [[Rutgers University|Rutgers College]] (now Rutgers University), where he graduated in 1915 with a [[Bachelor of Science]] in agriculture. He continued his studies at Rutgers, receiving a [[Master of Science]] the following year, in 1916. During his graduate study, he worked under [[J. G. Lipman]] at the [[School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (Rutgers University)|New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station]] at Rutgers performing research in soil bacteriology. Waksman spent some months in
==Career==
Later he joined the faculty at [[Rutgers University]] in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology. At Rutgers, Waksman's team discovered several antibiotics, including [[actinomycin]], [[clavacin]], streptothricin, streptomycin, grisein, [[neomycin]], fradicin, [[candicidin]], candidin. Two of these, streptomycin and neomycin, have found extensive application in the treatment of infectious disease. Streptomycin was the first [[antibiotic]] that could be used to cure the disease tuberculosis. Waksman is credited with coining the term antibiotics, to describe [[antibacterial]]s derived from other living organisms, for example [[penicillin]], though the term was used by the French dermatologist [[François Henri Hallopeau]], in 1871 to describe a substance opposed to the development of life.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}} Waksman took credit for Albert Schatz’s discovery of the first effective drug against gram negative bacteria.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}} ▼
He joined the faculty at [[Rutgers University]] in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology.
▲
In addition to his task at Rutgers, Waksman organized a division of Marine Bacteriology at the [[Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution]] in 1931.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1952/waksman-bio.html|title=Selman A. Waksman - Biographical|website=www.nobelprize.org|access-date=November 8, 2019}}</ref> He was appointed as a marine bacteriologist there and served until 1942. He was elected a trustee at WHOI and finally a Life Trustee.▼
▲In
In 1951,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.waksman-foundation.org/html/foundation_history.html |title=Foundation History |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304142506/http://www.waksman-foundation.org/html/foundation_history.html |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> using half of his
Selman Waksman died on August 16, 1973, at a Hyannis, Mass. Hospital and was interred at the Woods Hole Village Cemetery in [[Woods Hole, Massachusetts]]. His tombstone is inscribed "Selman Abraham Waksman: Scientist", with his dates of birth and death, and the term "The earth will unlock and fetch ahead salvation" in [[Hebrew]] and English, from {{bible|Isaiah|45:8}}.<ref name="foundationhistory"/><ref>This verse differs from the [[King James Version]], "Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it."</ref>▼
Other tributes of Selman Waksman involve antifouling paints for the Navy, the use of [[enzyme]]s in [[laundry detergent]]s, and the practice of [[Concord grape]] [[root stock|rootstock]] to [[root stock|safeguard]] French vineyard from fungal infection[[root stock|s.]]▼
==Research==
===Streptomycin===
{{main article|Streptomycin}}
Waksman had been studying the [[Streptomyces]] family of
====Controversy====
{{see also|Albert Schatz (scientist)#Streptomycin controversy}}
The details and credit for the discovery of streptomycin and its usefulness as an antibiotic were strongly contested by [[Albert Schatz
Systematic experiments to test several strains of antibiotics against several different disease organisms were underway in Waksman's laboratory at the time. Their classic approach was to explore a complete matrix with rows consisting of antibiotics and columns consisting of different diseases. The bacteria which produced the antibiotic streptomycin were discovered by Schatz in the farmland outside his lab and tested by him.<ref name=NYT/> Waksman, however, eventually came to claim sole credit for the discovery.{{Citation needed|date=September 2017}}
The controversy of streptomycin between Waksman and Schatz brought to light the challenges of distributing credit for scientific research, discoveries, and patents.<ref name=":1" /> It prompted schools and universities to become more involved in the patenting process and to have more regulations on how credit is dispersed. Schools would also provide clearer lines for each
===Neomycin===
{{Main article|Neomycin}}
Neomycin is derived from actinomycetes and was discovered by Waksman and Hubert A. Lechevalier, one of Waksman's graduate students. The discovery was published in the journal ''Science''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Waksman|first1=S. A.|last2=Lechevalier|first2=H. A.|date=1949-03-25|title=Neomycin, a New Antibiotic Active against Streptomycin-Resistant Bacteria, including Tuberculosis Organisms|url=https://www.
=== Marine bacteria ===
Waksman's research also examined the role of bacteria in marine systems, with a particular focus on the role of bacteria in nutrient cycles. Waksman examined the degradation of [[alginic acid]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Waksman|first1=S. A.|last2=Carey|first2=C. L.|last3=Allen|first3=M. C.|date=1934|title=Bacteria Decomposing Alginic Acid|journal=Journal of Bacteriology|volume=28|issue=2|pages=213–220|doi=10.1128/jb.28.2.213-220.1934|issn=0021-9193|pmid=16559742|pmc=533668}}</ref> cellulose,
▲Other tributes
Waksman was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1952. <!-- conflicts with the rest of the article"for his discovery of streptomycin, the first antibiotic effective against tuberculosis."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1952/|title=The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1952|website=www.nobelprize.org|access-date=April 9, 2018}}</ref> --> In the award speech, Waksman was called "one of the greatest benefactors to mankind," as the result of the discovery of streptomycin.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1952/press.html|title=Nobelprize.org|website=www.nobelprize.org|access-date=April 9, 2018}}</ref> Schatz protested being left out of the award, even sending a letter to the King of Sweden, King Gustav the Sixth, but the State did not have any influence over the Nobel Prize Committee’s decision and they ruled that he was a mere lab assistant working under an eminent scientist.<ref name=":2" /><ref name="NYT" />▼
==Awards and honors==
▲In 1951,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.waksman-foundation.org/html/foundation_history.html |title=Foundation History |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304142506/http://www.waksman-foundation.org/html/foundation_history.html |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> using half of his personal patent [[royalties]], Waksman created the Waksman Foundation for Microbiology.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.waksman-foundation.org/ |title=Waksman Foundation for Microbiology homepage |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160111114428/http://waksman-foundation.org/ |archive-date=January 11, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> At a meeting of the board of trustees of the foundation, held in July 1951, he urged the building of a facility for work in microbiology, named the [[Waksman Institute of Microbiology]], which is located on the [[Busch Campus (Rutgers University)|Busch Campus]] of Rutgers University in [[Piscataway, New Jersey]]. First president of the foundation, Waksman was succeeded in this position by his son, Byron H. Waksman, from 1970 to 2000.
▲Waksman
The [[Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology]] of the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] is given in his honor.<ref>{{cite web|title=Selman A Walksman Award|url=http://nas.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_waksman|access-date=July 29, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120420194657/http://nas.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_waksman|archive-date=April 20, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
== Publications ==
Selman Waksman was the author or [[co-author]] of over 400 scientific papers, as well as 28 books<ref name="foundationhistory"/> and 14 scientific pamphlets.
* ''Enzymes'' (1926)
* ''Humus: origin, chemical composition, and importance in nature'' (1936, 1938)
* ''Principles of Soil Microbiology'' (
* ''My Life with the Microbes'' (1954) (an autobiography)
== Personal life ==
Waksman was married to Deborah B. Mitnik. They had one son, Byron H. Waksman, M.D., who was an assistant professor at Harvard University Medical School, and Professor of Microbiology at Yale University Medical School.<ref name="NobelBio" />
▲Selman Waksman died on August 16, 1973, at a Hyannis,
== See also ==
==References==
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* {{Nobelprize}} including the Nobel Lecture December 12, 1952 ''Streptomycin: Background, Isolation, Properties, and Utilization''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160111114428/http://waksman-foundation.org/ Waksman Foundation for Microbiology]
* [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_the_history_of_medicine_and_allied_sciences/v059/59.3kingston.html "Streptomycin, Schatz v. Waksman, and the Balance of Credit for Discovery"]
* [http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=waksman&GSfn=selman&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=9533563&pt=Selman%20Abraham%20Waksman& Findagrave: Selman Waksman]
* [http://waksman.rutgers.edu/ The Waksman Institute of Microbiology at Rutgers University]
* [
{{Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Laureates 1951-1975}}
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[[Category:1888 births]]
[[Category:1973 deaths]]
[[Category:
▲[[Category:American Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:People from Lypovets Raion]]▼
[[Category:People from Kiev Governorate]]▼
[[Category:Jews of the Russian Empire]]▼
[[Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States]]▼
[[Category:American autobiographers]]▼
[[Category:American biochemists]]▼
[[Category:20th-century American inventors]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]]
▲[[Category:American autobiographers]]
[[Category:American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:American science writers]]
[[Category:American soil scientists]]
▲[[Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States]]
[[Category:Jewish American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Jewish American scientists]]
▲[[Category:Jewish American writers]]
[[Category:Jewish chemists]]
[[Category:Leeuwenhoek Medal winners]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts]]
[[Category:People from Falmouth, Massachusetts]]▼
▲[[Category:People from Kiev Governorate]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research]]
[[Category:Rutgers University alumni]]
[[Category:Rutgers University faculty]]
[[Category:
▲[[Category:American soil scientists]]
▲[[Category:People from Falmouth, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni]]
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