Selman Waksman: Difference between revisions

'''Selman Abraham Waksman''' (July 22, 1888 – August 16, 1973) was a Russian-born, Jewish-American inventor, biochemist and microbiologist whose research into [[organic substance]]s—largely into [[organism]]s that live in [[soil]]—and their [[decomposition]] promoted the discovery of [[Streptomycin]], and several other [[antibiotic]]s. A professor of biochemistry and microbiology at [[Rutgers University]] for four decades, he discovered over twenty [[antibiotic]]s (a word which he coined) and 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 on Rutgers University's [[Busch Campus]] in [[Piscataway, New Jersey]] (USA). In 1952 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in recognition "for his discovery of "streptomycin," the first antibiotic active against tuberculosis." Waksman was later accused of playing down the role of [[Albert Schatz (scientist)|Albert Schatz]], a PhD student who did the work under Waksman's supervision to discover streptomycin.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kingston|first=William|date=2004-07-01|title=Streptomycin, Schatz v. Waksman, and the balance of credit for discovery|url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15270337|journal=Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences|volume=59|issue=3|pages=441–462|issn=0022-5045|pmid=15270337}}</ref>

Selman Waksman was born on July 22, 1888, to [[Jewish]] parents, in [[Nova Pryluka]], [[Podolia 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) | accessdate= January 11, 2007 }}</ref> now [[Vinnytsia Oblast]], Ukraine. He was the son of Fradia (London) and Jacob Waksman.<ref>http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1952/waksman-bio.html</ref> He immigrated to the United States in 1910, shortly after receiving his matriculation diploma from the Fifth Gymnasium in [[Odessa]], and became a [[Naturalization|naturalised American citizen]] six years later.

Waksman attended [[Rutgers University|Rutgers College]] (now Rutgers University), where he was graduated in 1915 with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Agriculture. He continued his studies at Rutgers, receiving a [[Master of Science]] (MSc) the following year. 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 was then appointed as Research Fellow at the [[University of California, Berkeley]] from where he was awarded his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Biochemistry in 1918.

Later he joined the faculty at [[Rutgers University]] in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology. It was at Rutgers that Waksman's team discovered several antibiotics, including [[actinomycin]], [[clavacin]], [[streptothricin]], [[streptomycin]], [[grisein]], [[neomycin]], [[fradicin]], [[candicidin]], [[candidin]], and others. Two of these, [[streptomycin]] and [[neomycin]], have found extensive application in the treatment of numerous infectious diseases. [[Streptomycin]] was the first [[antibiotic]] that could be used to cure the disease [[tuberculosis]]. Waksman is credited with coining the term [[antibiotics]], to describe compounds derived from other living organisms such as [[penicillin]], though the term was first used by the French dermatologist [[François Henri Hallopeau]], in 1871, to describe a substance opposed to the development of life.<ref>ref. needed!</ref>