Experiment eleven: dark secrets in the discovery of a wonder drug
- Date
2016-02-24
- Main contributor
University of Virginia. School of Medicine
- Summary
-
In 1943, Albert Schatz, a young PhD student at New Jersey's Rutgers Agricultural College, was working on a wartime project testing bacteria from farmyard soil when he discovered streptomycin, a new antibiotic that was the first effective drug against the global killer tuberculosis. Schatz’s professor, Selman Waksman, claimed all credit for the discovery, calling Schatz a mere bench worker, and secretly enriched himself with royalties once the drug was patented by pharmaceutical manufacturer Merck. Schatz fought back in what was one of the most vicious battles ever for credit of a major scientific discovery. Schatz won the title of "co- discoverer" and a share of the royalties, but, in 1952, Waksman alone was awarded a Nobel Prize. Schatz disappeared into academic obscurity. This Medical Center Hour features journalist Peter Pringle, whose recent book Experiment Eleven probes this gripping, scandalous story and its diverse global repercussions— for scientific inquiry and mentoring, for research ethics, and for the evolution of Big Pharma. Co-presented with the History of the Health Sciences Lecture Series, Claude Moore Health Sciences Library
- Contributors
Pringle, Peter (Speaker); Childress, Marcia Day (Moderator); University of Virginia. School of Medicine
- Genre
Filmed lectures
- Subjects
Schatz, Albert, 1920-2005; Streptomycin
- Collection
Medical Center Hour
- Unit
Claude Moore Health Sciences Library
- Language
English
- Terms of Use
The speakers in this presentation have given the University of Virginia permission to make it freely accessible online for all audiences to view. To request permission to reproduce, republish, and/or repost this presentation please contact the Historical Collections and Services Department of the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library at the University of Virginia.
- Physical Description
1 online resource (1 video file, 61:42 min.) : sound, color
Access Restrictions
This item is accessible by: the public.