Selman Abraham Waksman (July 22, 1888 - August 16, 1973) was a biochemist who is most famous for his research into organic substances and their decomposition, which in 1943 eventually led to his discovery of streptomycin. In 1952 this achievement earned him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Born in Priluky , Ukraine, Waksman obtained his matriculation diploma in 1910 from the Fifth Gymnasium in Odessa, Ukraine, as an extern, and immigrated to the United States, where 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. That same year Waksman became a naturalized 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. It was at Rutgers that Waksman discovered several antibiotics, including streptomycin.
He 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.
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