Experiment Eleven
Deceit and Betrayal in the Discovery of the Cure for Tuberculosis
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
The remarkable story of a wonder drug, a disputed Nobel Prize, and a patent that shaped modern medicine
'The story of Experiment Eleven is amazing, as is its brilliant reporting, narrative verve and cool command of scientific ideas' Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind
'A riveting and heartbreaking book' New Scientist
In 1943, Albert Schatz, a young American Ph.D. student working in professor Selman Waksman's lab, was searching for an antibiotic to fight infections on the front lines and at home. On his eleventh experiment on a common bacterium found in farmyard soil, Schatz discovered streptomycin, the first effective cure for tuberculosis, at that time the leading killer among the world's infectious diseases.
As director of Schatz's research, Waksman took credit for the discovery, belittled Schatz's work, and secretly enriched himself with royalties from the streptomycin patent filed by Merck, the pharmaceutical company. Acclaimed author and journalist Peter Pringle unravels the intrigue behind one of the most important discoveries in the history of medicine.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The rift between eminent microbiologist Selman Waksman and his brilliant graduate student Albert Schatz was a spectacular fallout in the annals of science. In this riveting history of the discovery of one of the most important drugs of the last century streptomycin, the first antibiotic effective against tuberculosis journalist Pringle (Food, Inc.) argues that the story of the co-discoverers of the antibiotic is a fascinating human as well as scientific drama. Pringle not only recaps the split between the Rutgers researchers but the part played by the pharmaceutical giant Merck, which Waksman consulted for and which filed the scientists' patent application and then leased the rights from Rutgers to make the drug. Streptomycin led to countless happy endings, not least for Waksman, who claimed the spotlight for himself, leaving Schatz ignored and bitter. When Waksman worked out a deal to reap 20% of Rutgers's take of the royalties, Schatz turned to the courts to reclaim his co-inventor status. Pringle skillfully relates an important tale of a life-saving scientific discovery tarnished by egotism and injustice.
