Selman Abraham Waksman (July 22, 1888 – August 16, 1973) was a Jewish American inventor, Nobel Prize laureate, biochemist and microbiologist whose research into the decomposition of organisms that live in soil enabled the discovery of streptomycin and several other antibiotics.

In 1952, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for "ingenious, systematic, and successful studies of the soil microbes that led to the discovery of streptomycin."

[2] In 2005, Selman Waksman was granted an ACS National Historic Chemical Landmark in recognition of the significant work of his lab in isolating more than 15 antibiotics, including streptomycin, which was the first effective treatment for tuberculosis.

At Rutgers, Waksman's team discovered several antibiotics, including actinomycin, clavacin, streptothricin, streptomycin, grisein, neomycin, fradicin, candicidin, candidin.

[citation needed] In 1931, Waksman organized the division of Marine Bacteriology at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in addition to his task at Rutgers.

[11] These results were later confirmed by Elizabeth Bugie Gregory, whose name was also published on "Streptomycin, a Substance Exhibiting Antibiotic Activity Against Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative Bacteria" with Schatz and Waksman.

[citation needed] The details and credit for the discovery of streptomycin and its usefulness as an antibiotic were strongly contested by Albert Schatz, leading to litigation in 1950.

[citation needed] The controversy of streptomycin between Waksman and Schatz brought to light the challenges of distributing credit for scientific research, discoveries, and patents.

[29] Other tributes involve anti-fouling paint for the Navy, the use of enzymes in laundry detergents, and the practice of Concord grape rootstock to safeguard French vineyards from fungal infections.

[citation needed] Waksman acquired many awards and honors, including the Nobel Prize in 1952; the Star of the Rising Sun granted to him by the emperor of Japan, and the rank of Commandeur in the French Légion d'honneur.

[32] Schatz protested being left out of the award, even sending a letter to Gustaf VI Adolf, the King of Sweden, but the State did not have any influence over the Nobel Prize Committee's decision and they ruled that he was a mere lab assistant working under a scientist.