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WAKSMAN, SELMANABRAHAM
(1888-1973)Waksman, Selman Abraham
Russian-born American microbiologistSelman Waksman discovered life-saving antibacterial com-
pounds and his investigations spawned further studies for
other disease-curing drugs. Waksman isolated streptomycin,
the first chemical agent effective against tuberculosis. Prior to
Waksman’s discovery, tuberculosis was often a lifelong debil-
itating disease, and was fatal in some forms. Streptomycin
effected a powerful and wide-ranging cure, and for this dis-
covery, Waksman received the 1952 Nobel Prize in physiology
or medicine. In pioneering the field of antibiotic research,
Waksman had an inestimable impact on human health.
The only son of a Jewish furniture textile weaver,
Selman Abraham Waksman was born in the tiny Russian vil-
lage of Novaya Priluka on July 22, 1888. Life was hard in late-
nineteenth-century Russia. Waksman’s only sister died from
diphtheriawhen he was nine. There were particular tribula-
tions for members of a persecuted ethnic minority. As a teen
during the Russian revolution, Waksman helped organize an
armed Jewish youth defense group to counteract oppression.
He also set up a school for underprivileged children and
formed a group to care for the sick. These activities prefaced
his later role as a standard-bearer for social responsibility.
Several factors led to Waksman’s immigration to the
United States. He had received his diploma from the
Gymnasiumin Odessa and was poised to attend university, but
he doubtless recognized the very limited options he held as a
Jew in Russia. At the same time, in 1910, his mother died, and
cousins who had immigrated to New Jersey urged him to fol-
low their lead. Waksman did so, and his move to a farm there,
where he learned the basics of scientific farming from his
cousin, likely had a pivotal influence on Waksman’s later
choice of field of study.
In 1911 Waksman enrolled in nearby Rutgers College
(later University) of Agriculture, following the advice of fel-low Russian immigrant Jacob Lipman, who led the college’s
bacteriology department. He worked with Lipman, developing
a fascination with the bacteriaof soil, and graduated with a
B.S. in 1915. The next year he earned his M.S. degree. Around
this time, he also became a naturalized United States citizen
and changed the spelling of his first name from Zolman to
Selman. Waksman married Bertha Deborah Mitnik, a child-
hood sweetheart and the sister of one of his childhood friends,
in 1916. Deborah Mitnik had come to the United States in
1913, and in 1919 she bore their only child, Byron Halsted
Waksman, who eventually went on to a distinguished career at
Yale University as a pathology professor.
Waksman’s intellect and industry enabled him to earn
his Ph.D. in less than two years at the University of California,
Berkeley. His 1918 dissertation focused on proteolytic
enzymes(special proteins that break down proteins) in fungi.
Throughout his schooling, Waksman supported himself
through various scholarships and jobs. Among the latter were
ranch work, caretaker, night watchman, and tutor of English
and science.
Waksman’s former advisor invited him to join Rutgers
as a lecturer in soil bacteriology in 1918. He was to stay at
Rutgers for his entire professional career. When Waksman
took up the post, however, he found his pay too low to support
his family. Thus, in his early years at Rutgers he also worked
at the nearby Takamine Laboratory, where he produced
enzymes and ran toxicity tests.
In the 1920s Waksman’s work gained recognition in sci-
entific circles. Others sought out his keen mind, and his prolific
output earned him a well-deserved reputation. He wrote two
major books during this decade. Enzymes: Properties,
Distribution, Methods, and Applications, coauthored with
Wilburt C. Davison, was published in 1926, and in 1927 his
thousand-page Principles of Soil Microbiologyappeared. This
latter volume became a classic among soil bacteriologists. His
laboratory produced more than just books. One of Waksman’s
students during this period was René Dubos, who would later
discover the antibiotic gramicidin, the first chemotherapeuticwomi_W 5/7/03 10:17 AM Page 587