Albert Schatz - Biography

Albert Schatz (2 February 1922 – 17 January 2005) was the co-discoverer of streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy used to treat tuberculosis and a number of other diseases. Originally, the discovery of streptomycin was credited only to Schatz's supervisor, Selman Waksman.

Early life and education

Schatz was born in Norwich, Connecticut of Jewish-Russian and English parents and was raised on a farm. After a change of direction from farmer to pedology following a course by Dr. Jacob Joffe, Schatz began graduate school at Rutgers University, at Selman Waksman's laboratory, and eventually went on to earn his Ph.D. from Rutgers.

Streptomycin Discovery and War over Nobel Prize

With a meager stipend, Schatz lived in a small room in a greenhouse at the university. In early 1942, he was drafted into the Army and served as a laboratory aide at Miami Hospital, where he saw young soldiers die from infections resistant to penicillin. This led him to look for soil bacteria capable of inhibiting the growth of penicilin-resistant microbes. He sent some promising strains to Dr. Waksman for further testing.

In early 1943, Schatz was discharged from the army due to problems with his back, returned to graduate school, and continued work on soil bacteria in Dr. Waksman's basement laboratory at Cook College in Rutgers University. Dr Waksman was at the last stages of purifying streptomycin, testing it at an external lab in vivo in animals, and formulating the procedures for isolating antibiotic-producing bacteria.

According to Schatz's memoirs, he convinced Dr. Waksman to continue the research he had started at the Miami Hospital, and continued at it day and night.

According to coworker and friend Professor George Pieczenik, of Rutgers University, Schatz was known to sleep in his basement laboratory. When Schatz got married, he and his wife were forced to move a bed into the lab, which was so small that the two had to "lean it against the wall just so that it would fit".

Despite these conditions, Schatz took only 3 months to isolate two strains of Actinobacteria capable of stopping the growth of several penicillin-resistant bacteria, on October 19, 1943.

Schatz was listed second on the patent after Waksman, first on the scientific paper, and had soon after the discovery issued his doctorate thesis on the discovery of streptomycin.

Career

Originally, the discovery of streptomycin was credited only to Schatz's supervisor, Selman Waksman, who would later receive a Nobel Prize in 1952 for this work. Schatz, however, strongly contested the crediting and in 1950 brought litigation against Waksman, requesting recognition as streptomycin's co-discoverer and a portion of streptomycin royalties. Schatz's requests were eventually granted in an out-of-court settlement.

Dr. Schatz held faculty positions at Brooklyn College; the National Agricultural College in Doylestown, Pennsylvania; the University of Chile; and joined the Temple University faculty in 1969. He retired from Temple University in 1980.

Schatz was awarded the Rutgers medal in 1994 for his work on developing streptomycin.

In the 1990s, Dr. Schatz supported the research on microbes using co-creative science at the Perelandra Center for Nature Research, calling co-creative science "the most important advance in the history of science." Citing the increasing problem of drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis, he wrote, "We may win battles, but microbes will win the war unless we approach them differently."

Schatz was a socialist, an active environmentalist and was involved in local welfare, co-operatives and community recycling projects. An example of his community involvement is that until two years before his death, Schatz volunteered at the nearby Weavers Way (co-op) sharpening knives. He campaigned against water fluoridation and argued for a "proteolysis-chelation theory" of tooth decay, which was criticized as "more philosophic than experimental".

In 2004, author Inge Auerbacher co-wrote the book Finding Dr. Schatz: The Discovery of Streptomycin and a Life It Saved with Schatz. The book chronicled his discovery of streptomycin and meeting Auerbacher, a holocaust survivor and recipient of his antibiotic. A documentary by the same name "Finding Dr. Schatz", directed by Richard Colosi from Rochester, NY was released in 2009.

Schatz died from pancreatic cancer at his home in Philadelphia in 2005.

Albert Schatz's archives have been donated to the Temple University Library.

External links

• November 2, 2002 Guardian article on Albert Schatz and the Discovery of Steptomycin
• No Nobel for You - Top 10 Nobel Snubs (Dr. Schatz is number 4), Scientific American
• Memoirs at Rutgers Oral History Archives
• Schatz on fluoridation
• Weavers Way Co-op.
• San Diego Union-Tribune obituary
• Rutgers Focus obituary
• Streptomycin, Schatz v. Waksman, and the Balance of Credit for Discovery
• Private website about Dr. Schatz containing scanned newspaper clippings from the time of the discovery of Streptomycin