Calle Profesor Waksman

Selman Waksman was born in 1888 in present-day Ukraine and emigrated to the United States at twenty-two. At Rutgers he became one of the world’s leading authorities on soil microbiology, that invisible world where some microorganisms hold others in check. From that underground rivalry came his greatest discovery. In 1943, his team isolated streptomycin from the bacterium Streptomyces griseus, the first drug able to defeat tuberculosis, until then almost a death sentence. The Nobel Prize in Medicine followed, and he is also credited with popularizing the word antibiotic. The recognition carries a shadow. Streptomycin was isolated in the lab by his doctoral student Albert Schatz, who went to court over the credit and the royalties. The Nobel went to the master alone, and even today some demand justice for the pupil. The street sits in a fitting corner of the Hispanoamérica neighborhood: a few steps away runs the one devoted to Dr. Fleming, father of penicillin. Two antibiotics, two neighboring streets.