Oct. 19, 1943: A Wonderful Discovery, and a Helluva Row

Tuesday, 19 October 2010 13:00

Oct. 19, 1943: A Wonderful Discovery, and a Helluva Row

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1943: A biochemistry grad student discovers streptomycin, a synthetic antibiotic used to treat tuberculosis and other infectious diseases.

Sole credit for the discovery initially went to Selman Waksman — who would receive the

Nobel Prize in 1952 — who ran the laboratory at Rutgers University where the research was performed. But it was Albert Schatz, a 23-year-old graduate student under Waksman, who actually isolated the antibiotic after several months of feverish work.

Feeling slighted and discarded, Schatz grew increasingly bitter. Finally, in 1950, he sued his former mentor, as well as the university, and won an out-of-court settlement.

The key that unlocked streptomycin was Schatz’s success in isolating two active strains of actinomycetes. Both could effectively stop the growth of stubbornly virulent strains of bacteria that had proven resistant to penicillin, itself a new wonder drug.

Years later, Schatz described the moment he realized what he’d done:

On Oct. 19, 1943, at about 2 p.m., I realized I had a new antibiotic. I named it streptomycin. I sealed the test tube by heating the open end and twisting the soft, hot glass. I first gave it to my mother, but it is now at the Smithsonian Institution. I felt elated, and very tired, but I had no idea whether the new antibiotic would be effective in treating people.

It was. In fact, it proved the most effective way of attacking tuberculosis, a deadly infectious disease that was often fatal and still widespread at the time.

Waksman, who had once described Schatz as his most gifted student ever, took full credit — after getting the young man to sign over his royalty rights to Rutgers. Schatz said he agreed at the time because he believed that streptomycin should be made available, quickly and cheaply.

It was 1990 before Schatz finally received the official credit he spent all of his adult life pursuing. He died in 2005.

Source: The Guardian

Photo: Albert Schatz (left) and Selman Waksman.
Rutgers University Archive

This article first appeared on Wired.com Oct. 19, 2007.

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