Selman Waksman: Difference between revisions

| name = Selman Waksman

| image = Selman Waksman NYWTS.jpg

| birth_date = {{birth date|1888|7|22}}

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

| death_date = {{death date and age|1973|8|16|1888|7|22}}

| death_place = [[Woods Hole, Massachusetts|Woods Hole]], = [[BarnstableWoods CountyHole, Massachusetts]], United States

| alma_mater = [[Rutgers University]] <br> [[University of California, Berkeley]]

| citizenship = United States of America (After 1916)= United States

'''Selman Abraham Waksman''' (July 22, 1888 – August 16, 1973) was a Ukrainian-born,Jewish Jewish-American inventor, [[Nobel Prize laureate]], [[biochemist]] and [[microbiologist]] whose research into the [[organic substancedecomposition]]s—largely intoof [[organism]]s that live in [[soil]]—and their [[decomposition]] promotedenabled the discovery of [[Streptomycinstreptomycin]], and several other [[antibiotic]]s. A professor of biochemistry and microbiology at [[Rutgers University]] for four decades, he discovered overseveral twenty [[antibiotic]]santibiotics (aand introduced the modern sense of that word heto name coinedthem), 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 onat the Rutgers University's [[Busch Campus]] in [[Piscataway, New Jersey]] (USA). In 1952, he was awarded the [[Nobel Prize]] in [[Physiology]] or [[Medicine]] in recognitionfor "foringenious, hissystematic, discoveryand ofsuccessful "streptomycin,"studies of the firstsoil antibioticmicrobes activethat againstled tuberculosisto the discovery of streptomycin." Waksman wasand laterhis accusedfoundation oflater playingwere downsued the role ofby [[Albert Schatz (scientist)|Albert Schatz]], aone PhDof studenthis whoPh.D. didstudents and the workdiscoverer underof Waksmanstreptomycin, for minimizing Schatz's supervisionrole toin discoverthe streptomycindiscovery.<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>

In 2005, Selman Waksman was granted an [[ACS National HistoricalHistoric Chemical Landmarks|ACS National HistoricalHistoric Chemical Landmark]] in recognition of the significant work of his lab in isolating more than fifteen15 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 | accessdateaccess-date = 2014-02-21 }}</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, [[PodoliaKyiv 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) | accessdateaccess-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">http{{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> He immigrated to the United States inIn 1910, shortly after receiving his matriculation diploma from the Fifth Gymnasium in [[OdessaOdesa]], he immigrated to the United States and became a [[Naturalization|naturalisednaturalized 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>

Waksman attended [[Rutgers University|Rutgers College]] (now Rutgers University), where he was graduated in 1915 with a [[Bachelor of Science (BSc)]] in Agricultureagriculture. He continued his studies at Rutgers, receiving a [[Master of Science]] (MSc) 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 1915–1916 at the [[United States Department of Agriculture]] in [[Washington, DC]] under [[Charles Thom]], studying soil fungi.<ref name="Ryan_1993">{{cite book | last = Ryan | first = Frank | year = 1993 | title = The forgotten plague: how the battle against tuberculosis was thenwon—and lost | publisher = Little, Brown | location = Boston | isbn = 978-0316763806 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/forgottenplagueh00ryan }}</ref>{{rp|44–48}} He was appointed as Researcha research Fellowfellow at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], fromand wherein 1918 he was awarded his Doctor[[doctor of Philosophy (PhD)philosophy]] in Biochemistry in 1918biochemistry.

Waksman had been studying the [[Streptomyces]] family of organismorganisms since his college student days and had, for a time, been studying the organism ''[[Streptomyces griseus]]''. Streptomycin was isolated from ''S. griseus'' and found effective against [[tuberculosis]] by one of Waksman's graduate students, [[Albert Schatz (scientist)|Albert Schatz]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/63042d06-83c2-11e1-82ca-00144feab49a.html#axzz1s0Q17zi3 |title=Germ warfare |date=April 14, 2012 |publisher=[[Financial Times]] |author=Andrew Jack}}</ref> These results were later confirmed by [[Elizabeth Bugie]] Gregory, whose name was also published on "Streptomycin, a Substance Exhibiting Antibiotic Activity Against Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative Bacteria" with Schatz and Waksman.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=The Forgotten Women of the Antibiotics Race|url=https://www.ladyscience.com/features/forgotten-women-researchers-in-the-race-for-antibiotics-2021|access-date=2021-12-21|website=Lady Science|date=22 July 2021 |language=en-US}}</ref> However, Bugie's name was not on the second key paper in 1944, which was regarding the efficacy of streptomycin against tuberculosis in test tubes, as Schatz claimed Bugie was not involved with the experiment.<ref name=":0" /> Bugie was also not given credit for her work on streptomycin, nor was she listed on the patent proposal, as she signed an affidavit stating that she did not have any contribution in discovering streptomycin.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Obiturary: Elizabeth Gregory / Did McCandless woman get a fair shake for the role in the discovery of streptomycin?|url=http://old.post-gazette.com/obituaries/20010414gregory2.asp|access-date=2021-12-21|website=old.post-gazette.com|archive-date=2021-11-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129213617/http://old.post-gazette.com/obituaries/20010414gregory2.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref> This was submitted under an attorney of the Rutgers Research and Endowment Foundation.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

===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 name="timemanofsoil">{{citeCite 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=httphttps://www.timescience.comorg/timedoi/magazine10.1126/articlescience.109.2830.305|journal=Science|language=en|volume=109|issue=2830|pages=305–307|doi=10.1126/0,9171,800002,00science.html 109.2830.305|titlepmid=Man of the Soil 17782716|journalbibcode= [[Time (magazine)]] 1949Sci...109..305W|dateissn= April 4, 19490036-8075}}</ref>

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

==See alsoPersonal life ==

{{reflist|2}}

* [httphttps://wwwweb.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]

* [httphttps://www.sciamscientificamerican.com/slideshow.cfm?id=/10-nobel-snubs&thumbs=horizontal&photo_id=D2B7813E-A56F-E23D-B9B5F26CCD623611/ No Nobel for You – Top 10 Nobel Snubs], ''[[Scientific American]]''

[[Category:People20th-century fromAmerican Lypovets Raionbiochemists]]

[[Category:People20th-century fromAmerican Podolia Governorateinventors]]

[[Category:Ukrainian20th-century American Jews]]

[[Category:Imperial20th-century RussianAmerican emigrantsmale to the United Stateswriters]]

[[Category:American biochemistsmale non-fiction writers]]

[[Category:ImperialAmerican Russiansoil Jewsscientists]]

[[Category:JewishJews inventorsfrom the Russian Empire]]

[[Category:PhthisiatristsMembers of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts]]

[[Category:SoilTuberculosis scientistsresearchers]]