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Selman Abraham Waksman (July 22, 1888 - August 16, 1973) was a biochemist who is most widely recognised for his research into organic substances and their decomposition, which in 1943 eventually led to the discovery of streptomycin by Albert Schatz, a graduate student working independently. In 1952 Waksman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for Schatz's discovery. (See the Matthew Effect.)

Born in Priluka, Ukraine, Waksman immigrated to the United States and graduated from Rutgers University in 1915 with a B.Sc. degree in Agriculture. He performed research in soil bacteriology under Dr. J. G. Lipman at the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station before being awarded his M.Sc. degree in 1916. Waksman became a naturalized U.S. citizen and was appointed a Research Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley where he earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1918. He later joined the faculty at Rutgers University in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology.

Waksman is often wrongly credited with the discovery of streptomycin. The work was entirely that of Rutgers graduate student Albert Schatz. Fearing a tuberculosis infection, Waksman initially rejected the research project and never entered the laboratory where Schatz isolated streptomycin.

Waksman is also the author of several books:

• Enzymes (1926)
• Principles of Soil Microbiology (1938)
• My Life with the Microbes (1954) (an auto-biography)

He died in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

External link

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