Selman Waksman

Selman Abraham Waksman (22 July 1888 – 16 August 1973) was an American biochemist and microbiologist whose research into organic substances—largely into organisms that live in soil—and their decomposition lead to the discovery of Streptomycin, and several other antibiotics. A professor of biochemistry and microbiology at Rutgers University for four decades, his work led to the discovery of over twenty antibiotics (a word which he coined) and 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.

In 2005 Selman Waksman was designated an ACS National Historical Chemical Landmark in recognition of his significance for isolating more than fifteen antibiotics, including streptomycin, which was the first effective treatment for tuberculosis.^[1]

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Biography

Selman Waksman was born on 22 July 1888 to Jewish parents in Pryluky, a peasant village near Kiev, in the Russian Empire^[2], now Ukraine. He emigrated to the United States in 1910, shortly after receiving his matriculation diploma from the Fifth Gymnasium in Odessa, Ukraine, and became a naturalised American citizen six years later.

Waksman attended Rutgers College (now Rutgers University), where he was graduated in 1915 with a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Agriculture. He continued his studies at Rutgers, receiving a Master of Science (M.Sc.) the following year. During his graduate study, he worked under J. G. Lipman at the 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 (Ph.D.) in Biochemistry in 1918.

He later joined the faculty at Rutgers University in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology. It was at Rutgers that Waksman 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 coined the term antibiotics.

Many awards and honors were showered on Waksman after 1940, most notably the Nobel Prize in 1952 and the Star of the Rising Sun, bestowed on him by the emperor of Japan.^[2]

Selman Waksman died on 16 August 1973 and was interred at the Crowell Cemetery in Woods Hole, Barnstable County, Massachusetts. His tombstone is inscribed simply as Selman Abraham Waksman: Scientist and following his dates of birth and death, an apt paraphrase (given his life's work) of a verse from the prophetic Old Testament Book of Isaiah, carved in both Hebrew and English stating "The earth will open and bring forth salvation".^[2][3]

Streptomycin

Although Waksman had been studying the Streptomycin family of organism since his college student days, the details and credit for the discovery of its use as the antibiotic streptomycin were strongly contested by one of Waksman's graduate students, Albert Schatz, and resulted in litigation. The litigation ended with a substantial settlement for Schatz and the official decision that Waksman and Schatz would be considered co-discoverers of streptomycin. Schatz made the discovery while working in Waksman's basement lab, and using Waksman's equipment. Schatz examined about 10,000 cultures, and only 1,000 would kill bacteria in preliminary tests. Of those only 100 looked promising in later tests, and only ten were isolated and described. One of those ten was streptomycin.^[4]

Neomycin

Like streptomycin, it is derived from actinomycetes. Hubert A. Lechevalier, a graduate student worked with him. The discovery was published in the journal Science. ^[5]

Nobel Prize

There is contention as to whether or not Schatz should have been included in the Nobel Prize awarded in 1952 for "for his discovery of streptomycin, the first antibiotic effective against tuberculosis" but it is understood that the Nobel Prize was awarded not only for the discovery of streptomycin but also for the development of the methods and techniques that led up to its discovery, and the discovery of many other antibiotics.

Waksman created the Waksman Foundation for Microbiology in 1951 (Foundation History) using half of his personal patent royalties. At a meeting of the board of Trustees of the Foundation, held in July of 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 of Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey.

Publications

Selman Waksman was author or co-author of over 400 scientific papers, as well as twenty-eight books.^[2]

• Enzymes (1926)
• Humus: origin, chemical composition, and importance in nature (1936, 1938)
• Principles of Soil Microbiology (1938)
• My Life with the Microbes (1954) (an autobiography)

References

1. ^ Selman Waksman and Antibiotics - ACS National Historical Chemical Landmarks [1]
2. ^ ^{a b c d} [http://www.waksmanfoundation.org/html/foundation_history.html "The Foundation and Its History", at the Waksman Foundation for Microbiology website. (No further authorship information available), accessed 11 January 2007.
3. ^ This verse is significantly different than the original text of Isaiah 45:8 which states, in the King James Version, as "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."
4. ^ Man of the Soil Time (magazine);April 4, 1949
5. ^ Man of the Soil Time (magazine);April 4, 1949