Selman Abraham Waksman

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Selman Waksman (1953)

Selman Waksman ( Ukrainian Зельман Абрахам Ваксман , scientific. Transliteration Zel'man Abracham Vaksman , July 8 * jul. / 20th July  1888 greg. In Nowa Pryluka , Kiev Governorate , Russian Empire ; † 16 August 1973 in Woods Hole , Barnstable County , Massachusetts , USA ) was a Russian-American biochemist and microbiologist . Waksman was the first to use the term antibiotic . In 1940 he isolated the antibiotic and cytostatic actinomycin A from soil bacteria and in 1943 the antibiotic streptomycin .

For the discovery of streptomycin, the first antibiotic against tuberculosis , he received the 1952 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine . In fact, the substance was isolated in 1943 by Albert Schatz (1920–2005), a student working in his laboratory .

biography

Selman Waksman was born to Jewish parents in what was then the Russian Empire . Due to the repressive political conditions and the anti-Semitism rampant in Russia , he emigrated to the United States in 1910 shortly after he had passed his Abitur at the Fifth Gymnasium in Odessa . Six years later, he received American citizenship . In the United States, he attended Rutgers College (now Rutgers University ) in New Jersey , where he obtained a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree in agriculture in 1915 . In the following year he obtained a Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree . He worked there in Jacob G. Lipman's laboratory and did research on soil bacteria . Waksman then became a research fellow at the University of California, Berkeley , where he received his Ph.D. in biochemistry. He then moved back to the Faculty of Biochemistry and Microbiology at Rutgers University at the invitation of Lipman, where he was appointed Associate Professor in 1925 and Professor in 1930. In 1940 he became director of the Institute for Microbiology there. Many antibiotics were discovered in the laboratory under his direction, including actinomycin (1940), clavacin , streptothricin , streptomycin (1944), grisein , neomycin (1949), fradicin , candicidin , candidin . Streptomycin, discovered in 1944, was the first antibiotic to be effective against tuberculosis . Waksman also coined the term "antibiotic". In 1958 he retired. He died in 1973 and is buried in Crowell Cemetery in Woods Hole , Barnstable County , Massachusetts .

He has received numerous awards for his scientific work, including the Amory Prize of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1947, the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1948 and the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1952 . The Keiō University awarded him in 1953 the first honorary doctorate in its history. In 1932 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina . He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences , the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1949), the Académie des sciences (1937 corresponding and 1955 foreign member) and the Légion d'honneur . The National Academy of Sciences awards him the Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology in honor of outstanding scientific achievements in the field of microbiology .

Dispute over the first discovery of streptomycin

Waksman had studied streptomycetes early on . He received the Nobel Prize in 1952, as the award ceremony said, “for his discovery of streptomycin, the first antibiotic against tuberculosis,” but it was also awarded for numerous other works in the field of antibiotic research. An argument ensued with a former Waksman graduate student, Albert Schatz , who claimed the first discovery. It also concerned the rights to patent income for streptomycin. Waksman and Rutgers University initially vehemently denied a significant share of Schatz in the discovery, but later had to admit that Schatz was at least partially right. In an out-of-court settlement, Schatz was financially settled and in an official statement, Waksman and Schatz were both named as the discoverers of streptomycin.

Publications

  • My life with the microbes. Simon and Schuster, New York 1954, OCLC 794728 .
  • The Brilliant and Tragic life of WMW Haffkine. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick 1964.

Web links

Commons : Selman Waksman  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Member entry of Selman Waksman (with picture) at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on June 10, 2016.
  2. ^ List of former members since 1666: Letter W. Académie des sciences, accessed on March 13, 2020 (French).
  3. ↑ Portrait on the Rutgers University website ( Memento from April 18, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) in the Internet Archive at archive.org, as of April 18, 2008, viewed July 23, 2010 (English)
  4. ↑ Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology at nasonline.org; accessed on January 14, 2016
  5. ^ Schatz-Waksman dispute ( Memento from October 14, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Waksman, Selman Abraham
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ваксман, Зельман Абрахам (Ukrainian); Vaksman, Zel'man Abracham (scientific transliteration)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American biochemist
DATE OF BIRTH July 20, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Nowa Pryluka , Kiev Governorate , Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH 16th August 1973
Place of death Woods Hole , Barnstable County , Massachusetts, USA