Biography of Waksman, Selman Abraham (1888 – 1973)

Russian born United States biochemist, Waksman won the 1952 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the antibiotic streptomycin.

He was one of the world’s foremost authorities on soil microbiology.

Waksman, Selman Abraham was born in Pryluky, Ukraine. With the aid of private tutors he received a diploma from the Fifth Gymnasium in Odessa, Ukraine.

After immigrating to the USA in 1910, Waksman studied at Rutgers University, where he received a BS in agriculture in 1915 and MS in 1916.

He received a PhD in biochemistry in 1918 from the University of California. He returned to Rutgers as a lecturer in soil microbiology, becoming professor (1930 – 40) and then professor of microbiology (1940 – 58). He was made emeritus professor on his retirement in 1958.

Waksman’s special field was soil microbiology, in particular the role of fungi and bacteria in the decomposition of organic matter and humus formation. He wrote Principles of Soil Microbiology (1927), one of the most comprehensive works on the subject at that time.

In 1940 he isolated actinomycin which like penicillin was to toxic to several strains of bacteria.

Waksman discovered that actinomycin was toxic to animals as well, disqualifying it as treatment for bacterial infections in humans.

In 1941 he coined the term ‘antibiotic’ for any substance toxic to bacteria.

In 1944 he announced the discovery of streptomycin, which he had isolated from Streptomyces griseus. Unlike actinomycin, streptomycin was safe for human use.

This was the first safe antibiotic found that was effective against Gram-negative bacteria, including the species responsible for tuberculosis, which are resistant to penicillin.

He later discovered another antibiotic, neomycin, obtained from Streptomyces fradiae. This is used to treat bowel infections and local skin or eye infections.

Waksman retried form his chair as head of the Waksman Institute in 1958 but maintained an office and small laboratory.
Biography of Waksman, Selman Abraham (July 22, 1888 – August 16, 1973)

Andrew Victor Schally

Andrew Victor Schally, the Polish American biochemist who won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1977 for his discoveries concerning the peptide hormone production of the brain.

Andrew Schally was a co-founder of the field of neuroendocrinology, the study of how the central nervous system controls the endocrine system, which comprises all the glands that secrete hormones.

He received his PhD from McGill in 1957 and moved that same year to the United States where he has remained ever since. Schally became an American citizen in 1962.

Schally was born in November 30, 1926, in Wilno, Poland to Casmir and Maria Schally.

He survived the years of World War II in the Polish Jewish community in Romania. After the war, he continued his studies in Scotland and at the University of London. After graduating from the University of London, he worked at the National Institute for Medical Research from 1949 until 1952 when he moved to Canada.

He became citizen during his five years in Canada. He worked at McGill University, Montreal, obtaining his PhD in biochemistry in 1957. His work began in Montreal and continued in the United States, he investigated hormonal secretions of the pituitary gland and the closely related hypothalamus in the brain, and how the two interrelated.

In 1962 he became head of the endocrine and polypeptide laboratories at the Veterans Administration Hospital, New Orleans.

His other honors include election to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Andrew Victor Schally