In October 1943, in the laboratory of Selman Waksman at Rutgers University in New Jersey, the graduate student Albert Schatz isolated streptomycin from a soil bacterium, Streptomyces griseus. It was the first antibiotic effective against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which killed about one in seven people in Europe and America, and against many bacteria that penicillin could not touch. A patient with advanced tuberculosis was treated successfully in 1944 at the Mayo Clinic. Waksman received the 1952 Nobel Prize alone, and Schatz, who sued for recognition and won a share in the royalties, was not included. Tuberculosis is now curable with combinations of drugs.
Before and after
- from 8 September 1943 to 22 November 1943Dodecanese Campaign
- from 21 September 1943 to 26 September 1943Massacre of the Acqui Division
- from 23 September 1943 to 25 April 1945Italian Social Republic
- 29 September 1943Birth of Lech Wałęsa
- October 1943Streptomycin, the first antibiotic that works against tuberculosis, is discovered
- 14 October 1943Birth of Mohammad Khatami
- from 31 October 1943 to 11 December 1943Kerch–Eltigen Operation
- from 1 November 1943 to 21 August 1945Bougainville Campaign
- from 22 November 1943 to 26 November 1943Cairo Conference
More in Science & technology
- 15 September 1917Launch of Forbes
- 11 January 1922Insulin is first used to treat diabetes
- 1927Hubble–Lemaître law
- 1936Alan Turing defines the universal machine
- from 1939 to 1946Manhattan Project
- from c. 1940s to 1960sGreen Revolution
The era
This moment belongs to the Modern era (1914 CE to 1945 CE), world wars and a changing world. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.