Selman Abraham Waksman
At a glance:
- Series: Dictionary of World Biography: Twentieth Century
- Categories: Science, Medicine, Health
- Subcategories: Biology, Biologists, Scientists
- Curriculum: American History 1901-1950, American History 1951-present, 20th & 21st Century European History, Russian/Former Soviet States History
Article abstract: Waksman’s painstaking research into the nature of soil microorganisms, culminating in the discovery of streptomycin, helped to bring about the antibiotic age.
Early Life
Selman Abraham Waksman was born on July 22, 1888, in Priluka, a small, bleak town in the Ukraine some two hundred miles from Kiev. His parents, Jacob and Fradia Waksman, were Russian-Jewish; his mother ran a dry-goods business, and his father’s time was spent in managing his property and in study and attending synagogue.
Russia in the late nineteenth century...
[The entire page is 2396 words long]
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