Selman Waksman: Difference between revisions

{{short description|UkraineRussian Jewish-American biochemist, microbiologist, and Nobel Laureate (1888–1973)}}

| birth_place = Nova Pryluka, [[KievKyiv Governorate]], [[Russian Empire]] (now [[Ukraine]])

| citizenship = United States of America (after 1916)

'''Selman Abraham Waksman''' (July 22, 1888 – August 16, 1973) was a Jewish Ukrainian-born American inventor, [[Nobel Prize laureate]], [[biochemist]] and [[microbiologist]] whose research into the [[decomposition]] of [[organism]]s that live in [[soil]] enabled the discovery of [[streptomycin]] and several other [[antibiotic]]s. A professor of biochemistry and microbiology at [[Rutgers University]] for four decades, he discovered several antibiotics (and introduced the modern sense of that word to name them), and he introduced procedures that have led to the development of many others. The proceeds earned from the licensing of his patents funded a foundation for microbiological research, which established the [[Waksman Institute of Microbiology]] located at the Rutgers University [[Busch Campus]] in [[Piscataway, New Jersey]] (USA). In 1952, he was awarded the [[Nobel Prize]] in [[Physiology]] or [[Medicine]] for "ingenious, systematic, and successful studies of the soil microbes that led to the discovery of streptomycin." Waksman and his foundation later were sued by [[Albert Schatz (scientist)|Albert Schatz]], one of his Ph.D. students and the discoverer of streptomycin, for minimizing Schatz's role in the discovery.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Kingston|first=William|date=2004-07-01|title=Streptomycin, Schatz v. Waksman, and the balance of credit for discovery|journal=Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences|volume=59|issue=3|pages=441–462|issn=0022-5045|pmid=15270337|doi=10.1093/jhmas/jrh091|s2cid=27465970}}</ref>

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, [[KievKyiv Governorate]], [[Russian Empire]],<ref name="foundationhistory">{{cite web |url=http://www.waksman-foundation.org/html/foundation_history.html |title=The Foundation and Its History |publisher=waksman-foundation.org (No further authorship information available) |access-date=January 11, 2007 |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> now [[Vinnytsia Oblast]], Ukraine. He was the son of Fradia (London) and Jacob Waksman.<ref name="NobelBio">{{Cite web |title=Selman A. Waksman - Biographical |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1952/waksman-bio.html |access-date=April 9, 2018 |website=www.nobelprize.org}}</ref> In 1910, shortly after receiving his diploma from the Fifth Gymnasium in [[Odesa]], he immigrated to the United States and became a [[Naturalization|naturalized American citizen]] six years later.<ref>'''(ru)'''[https://iodessit.com/ru/eternal-zelman-vaksman-otkryvatel-preparata-protiv-tuberkuleza // Виталий Орлов. Зельман Ваксман — открыватель препарата против туберкулеза // Я - Одессит, 24.09.2022]</ref>

He joined the faculty at [[Rutgers University]] in the Department of biochemistryBiochemistry and Microbiology.

At Rutgers, Waksman's team discovered several antibiotics, including [[actinomycin]], [[clavacin]], streptothricin, [[streptomycin]], grisein, [[neomycin]], fradicin, [[candicidin]], candidin. Waksman co-discovered streptomycin with [[Albert Schatz (scientist)|Albert Schatz]]. Streptomycin was the first effective drug against gram-negative bacteria<ref name= "ACSLandmarks"/> and the first [[antibiotic]] used to cure [[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}}

In 1931, Waksman organized the division of Marine Bacteriology at the [[Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution]] (WHOI) in addition to his task at Rutgers.<ref name="NobelBio" /> 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 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 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]]. The foundation's first president of the foundation, Waksman, was succeeded in this position by his son, Byron H. Waksman, from 1970 to 2000.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

* ''Principles of Soil Microbiology'' (19381927, 1932)

[[Category:TuberculosisNobel researcherslaureates in Physiology or Medicine]]

[[Category:MembersTuberculosis of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Artsresearchers]]