Selman Waksman

Information about Selman Waksman

Selman Abraham Waksman

Born22 July 1888(1888--)
Pryluky, near Kiev, Ukraine
DiedJuly 16 1973 (aged 85)
Woods Hole, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States of America
ResidenceUSA
NationalityAmerican
FieldBiochemistry and Microbiology
Notable prizes Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1952)


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 the procedures that have lead 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]

Biography

Selman Waksman was born on 22 July 1888 to Jewish parents in Pryluky, a peasant village near Kiev, in the Russian Empire.[2]. 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, but he was working in Waksman's lab, using Waksman's equipment, and he was under the direction of Waksman using Waksman's techniques. He 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)
  • (1936, 1938)
  • Principles of Soil Microbiology (1938)
  • My Life with the Microbes (1954) (an autobiography)

External links

References

1. ^ Selman Waksman and Antibiotics - ACS National Historical Chemical Landmarks [1]
2. ^ "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


 •  • [ e]
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Laureates
Max Theiler (1951) • Selman Waksman (1952) • Hans Krebs / Fritz Lipmann (1953) • John Enders / Thomas Weller / Frederick Robbins (1954) • Hugo Theorell (1955) • Andr Cournand / Werner Forssmann / Dickinson W. Richards (1956) • Daniel Bovet (1957) • George Beadle / Edward Tatum / Joshua Lederberg (1958) • Severo Ochoa / Arthur Kornberg (1959) • Frank Burnet / Peter Medawar (1960) • Georg von Bksy (1961) • Francis Crick / James D. Watson / Maurice Wilkins (1962) • John Eccles / Alan Hodgkin / Andrew Huxley (1963) • Konrad Bloch / Feodor Lynen (1964) • Franois Jacob / Andr Lwoff / Jacques Monod (1965) • Francis Rous / Charles B. Huggins (1966) • Ragnar Granit / Haldan Hartline / George Wald (1967) • Robert W. Holley / Har Khorana / Marshall Nirenberg (1968) • Max Delbrck / Alfred Hershey / Salvador Luria (1969) • Bernard Katz / Ulf von Euler / Julius Axelrod (1970) • Earl Sutherland Jr. (1971) • Gerald Edelman / Rodney Porter (1972) • Karl von Frisch / Konrad Lorenz / Nikolaas Tinbergen (1973) • Albert Claude / Christian de Duve / George Palade (1974) • David Baltimore / Renato Dulbecco / Howard Temin (1975)


Persondata
NAMESelman Waksman
ALTERNATIVE NAMESSelman Abraham Waksman
SHORT DESCRIPTIONAmerican scientist, biochemist, microbiologist who discovered Streptomycin and many antibiotics.
DATE OF BIRTH22 July 1888
PLACE OF BIRTHPryluky, near Kiev, Ukraine
DATE OF DEATH16 August 1973
PLACE OF DEATHWoods Hole, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States of America
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Biochemistry is the study of the chemical processes in living organisms.[1] The word "biochemistry" comes from the Greek word βιοχημεία biochēmeia, which means "the chemistry of life.
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organic compounds]] An organic compound is any member of a large class of chemical compounds whose molecules contain carbon; for historical reasons discussed below, a few types of compounds such as carbonates, carbon oxides and cyanides, as well as elemental carbon are
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    Decomposition (or spoilage) refers to the reduction of the body of a formerly living organism into simpler forms of matter.

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    Streptomycin is an antibiotic drug, the first of a class of drugs called aminoglycosides to be discovered, and was the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis. It is derived from the actinobacterium Streptomyces griseus.
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    antibiotic is a chemotherapeutic agent that inhibits or abolishes the growth of micro-organisms, such as bacteria, fungi, or protozoans. The term originally referred to any agent with biological activity against living organisms; however, "antibiotic" now is used to refer to
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