1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,840 Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, it's Eves checking in here to let you 2 00:00:02,880 --> 00:00:04,920 Speaker 1: know that you're going to be hearing two different events 3 00:00:04,920 --> 00:00:07,360 Speaker 1: in history in this episode, one from me and one 4 00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:09,840 Speaker 1: from Tracy V. Wilson. They're both good, if I do 5 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:16,599 Speaker 1: say so myself. One with the show. Welcome to this 6 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:20,920 Speaker 1: day in History class. It's July twenty two. Selman Waksman 7 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:24,280 Speaker 1: was born on this day in and he's credited with 8 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:27,880 Speaker 1: the discovery of the antibiotics strepp to mycin, but there 9 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:31,600 Speaker 1: is some debate about whether that credit is completely deserved. 10 00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:35,360 Speaker 1: Salmon Waksman was born to a family of devout Jews 11 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:39,120 Speaker 1: near Kiev and what's now Ukraine, and his family moved 12 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:42,000 Speaker 1: to the United States to escape persecution. He became a 13 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:46,520 Speaker 1: United States citizen in nineteen sixteen after getting a PhD 14 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:50,239 Speaker 1: from the University of California at Berkeley. He returned to 15 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:53,760 Speaker 1: Rutgers University, where he had gotten some of his earlier degrees, 16 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:57,440 Speaker 1: where he became a professor of microbiology. He also became 17 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:00,360 Speaker 1: the head of the microbiology department when it was founded 18 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:03,080 Speaker 1: in and a lot of his work had to do 19 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:07,160 Speaker 1: with soil bacteriology. He started building on the work of 20 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:10,640 Speaker 1: a French biologist named Rene du Bois who had found 21 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:16,600 Speaker 1: a bacterium in soil that attacked other bacteria. It's specifically 22 00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:20,560 Speaker 1: attacked the bacterium that caused pneumonia. So this thing that 23 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:22,959 Speaker 1: he had found in the soil had the potential to 24 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:27,920 Speaker 1: treat pneumonia. So Waxman and other colleagues started trying to 25 00:01:27,959 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 1: look for other bacteria that could maybe attack other pathogens. 26 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:35,040 Speaker 1: A huge part of this work was done by one 27 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:38,120 Speaker 1: of his graduate students, a man named H. Boyd Woodruff, 28 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:41,440 Speaker 1: and there were about fifty other graduate students who were 29 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:44,039 Speaker 1: also part of this project over the years. This is 30 00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:47,920 Speaker 1: pretty common way of doing scientific research, with graduate students 31 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:51,600 Speaker 1: carrying out a lot of the labor. They were painstaking 32 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:56,080 Speaker 1: lye isolating microbes in the soil samples and then painstakingly 33 00:01:56,200 --> 00:02:00,640 Speaker 1: testing them against a bunch of other specific pathogens with 34 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:05,280 Speaker 1: a lot of very detailed work. Woodruff found a bacterium 35 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:08,640 Speaker 1: that could kill and inhibit the growth of bacteria, and 36 00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:14,440 Speaker 1: it was called Actinomyces antibioticus. But unfortunately, this bacterium was 37 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:17,120 Speaker 1: also harmful to pretty much everything else. It was not 38 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:20,400 Speaker 1: something you could actually give to a person to treat 39 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:24,120 Speaker 1: a disease. Because the bacterium itself would make them sicker. 40 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:28,120 Speaker 1: They kept looking, though, and two years later they isolated 41 00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:32,040 Speaker 1: another bacterium that was less toxic, but still toxic. Still 42 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:35,240 Speaker 1: not quite where they wanted to be. Eventually, though, they 43 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:39,600 Speaker 1: found twenty or so different bacteria that could all fight infections, 44 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:43,799 Speaker 1: and they coined the name antibiotics to describe all of these. 45 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:49,520 Speaker 1: In nineteen forty four, Waxman and his team finally isolated 46 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:55,359 Speaker 1: streptomycin from strepped to Mices grissius, which was also isolated 47 00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 1: by a graduate student. This one was named albert Shots. 48 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:03,440 Speaker 1: This was finally made into an actual drug through an 49 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:07,800 Speaker 1: agreement with Mark Pharmaceuticals, and this drug was colossally important. 50 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:12,480 Speaker 1: Tuberculosis is a devastating disease. At the time, it had 51 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:14,920 Speaker 1: no cure, It had no effective treatment. They were doing 52 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:17,359 Speaker 1: things like bundling people up with blankets and having them 53 00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:20,240 Speaker 1: sleep out in the cold to treat tuberculosis. It was 54 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:24,679 Speaker 1: not actually a effective way to treat tuberculosis at all. 55 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 1: The need for this drug was so great that Waxman 56 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:32,120 Speaker 1: actually renegotiated his whole deal with Mark Pharmaceuticals to allow 57 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:35,240 Speaker 1: other manufacturers to get access to the patent and to 58 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:37,520 Speaker 1: also make the drug. That was how much they needed 59 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:41,360 Speaker 1: to have an effective treatment for tuberculosis for the first time. 60 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:47,000 Speaker 1: But then in Albert Shots sued someone Watsman. He argued 61 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:50,080 Speaker 1: that this had been his discovery and not Waxman, and 62 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:53,000 Speaker 1: that Waxman had taken the credit from him on purpose. 63 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:57,800 Speaker 1: This fight got really really ugly, with Waxman's legal team 64 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 1: making false accusations against Albish Shots, and the case was 65 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:04,440 Speaker 1: finally settled in nineteen fifty. This settlement led to the 66 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:07,800 Speaker 1: royalties being divided up differently. That's the royalties that people 67 00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:10,960 Speaker 1: were paying to use that patent. Eight percent of the 68 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:14,800 Speaker 1: royalties went to Regers University, ten percent to Salmon Waksman, 69 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:17,359 Speaker 1: three percent to Albert Shots, and then the remainder was 70 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:19,839 Speaker 1: divided among the other people who had been part of 71 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:23,760 Speaker 1: this project. Salmon Waksman was awarded a Nobel Prize for 72 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:26,599 Speaker 1: all this in nineteen fifty two, and although Albert Shots 73 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:29,200 Speaker 1: was named in the speech, he was not named in 74 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:33,520 Speaker 1: the award. It is still not completely clear exactly what 75 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:37,839 Speaker 1: happened here. It is extremely typical for graduate students to 76 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:41,560 Speaker 1: carry out a lot of work on their professors projects. 77 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:44,599 Speaker 1: There's a whole debate. That's a legitimate debate to be 78 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:49,480 Speaker 1: had about that system and whether it is just Opinions 79 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:53,040 Speaker 1: are divided though about whether this specific case is just 80 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:56,960 Speaker 1: how it went in science programs and in graduate schools, 81 00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:00,480 Speaker 1: or whether Waksman really did do something wrong. You can 82 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:02,800 Speaker 1: learn more about this and all of the debates in 83 00:05:02,839 --> 00:05:06,760 Speaker 1: the July thirteen episode of Stuffy miss and History Class, 84 00:05:06,839 --> 00:05:09,160 Speaker 1: and you can subscribe to This Day in History Class 85 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:12,400 Speaker 1: on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, and whatever else you get 86 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:15,480 Speaker 1: your podcasts. Next time, we will take a look at 87 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:27,000 Speaker 1: a Cold War era revolution. Welcome back to This Day 88 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:30,200 Speaker 1: in History Class, where we reveal a new piece of 89 00:05:30,279 --> 00:05:43,640 Speaker 1: history every day. The day was July eighteen forty nine. 90 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:47,480 Speaker 1: Emma Lazarus was born in New York City to parents 91 00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:51,440 Speaker 1: Moses and Esther Lazarus. Emma would go on to become 92 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: a successful author an advocate for Jewish people around the world. 93 00:05:56,600 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: Emma had six siblings. Her family was wealthy from their busines, 94 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:03,400 Speaker 1: this in sugar refinery and industry that largely relied on 95 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:07,800 Speaker 1: the labor of enslaved people. Emma lived a comfortable life 96 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:11,440 Speaker 1: and had private tutors, and she learned to speak several languages. 97 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:16,000 Speaker 1: She began writing and translating poetry early on, and her 98 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:19,599 Speaker 1: father privately printed her first work in eighteen sixty six. 99 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:24,920 Speaker 1: The next year, the collection Poems and Translations, written between 100 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:29,920 Speaker 1: the ages of fourteen and seventeen, was printed commercially. This 101 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:33,360 Speaker 1: second edition got Emma a lot more attention, including that 102 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 1: of writer Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson became Emma's mentor, and 103 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:40,440 Speaker 1: the two of them would correspond for years to come, 104 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:42,880 Speaker 1: though they did have a falling out over the course 105 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:47,560 Speaker 1: of their relationship. In eighteen seventy one, Lazarus published a 106 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:50,880 Speaker 1: second volume of poetry called at Medas and Other Poems. 107 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:55,240 Speaker 1: The book includes her original poems and translations of works 108 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:59,719 Speaker 1: by other poets. Three years later, she published her only novel, 109 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:03,680 Speaker 1: which was based on Johann Wolfgang von Gerta's personal accounts 110 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:07,799 Speaker 1: of his life. Throughout the eighteen seventies and eighteen eighties, 111 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:11,800 Speaker 1: Emma published poems of play in verse, translations, and essays. 112 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:15,320 Speaker 1: It was in the early eighteen eighties when Lazarus took 113 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:18,080 Speaker 1: up the cause of denouncing anti Semitism in her writing. 114 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:21,760 Speaker 1: She published Songs of a Semite, The Dance to Death, 115 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:25,480 Speaker 1: and other poems in which she celebrated her Jewish heritage. 116 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:31,040 Speaker 1: She also contributed to magazines like American Hebrew and The Century. 117 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:36,840 Speaker 1: Among other essays, she published Russian Christianity Versus Modern Judaism, 118 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:40,200 Speaker 1: a response to a journalist who defended anti Semitic programs. 119 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:44,600 Speaker 1: Anti Semitism was spreading in Eastern Europe, and her works 120 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:49,560 Speaker 1: became controversial. In eighteen eighty three, Emma traveled to England 121 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:52,440 Speaker 1: and France and met poets and writers like Robert Browning 122 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:55,800 Speaker 1: and William Morris. When she returned to the US that year, 123 00:07:56,080 --> 00:07:58,840 Speaker 1: she wrote the poem The New Colossus to help phraise 124 00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:01,679 Speaker 1: money for a pedestal for the Statue of Liberty, which 125 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 1: France planned to give to the U S as a gift. 126 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:07,720 Speaker 1: In the poem, she imagined the statue as the mother 127 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:12,040 Speaker 1: of exiles, a character who says the following, give me 128 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:16,280 Speaker 1: your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, 129 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:20,600 Speaker 1: the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the 130 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:24,840 Speaker 1: homeless tempest tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside 131 00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:29,000 Speaker 1: the golden door. The poem was later engraved on a 132 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:31,600 Speaker 1: plaque and hung in the Museum and the statue's pedestal, 133 00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:36,479 Speaker 1: as Emma wrote more from her singular Jewish and American perspective. 134 00:08:36,920 --> 00:08:40,160 Speaker 1: She began advocating for the creation of a Jewish homeland 135 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:44,240 Speaker 1: before Zionism had gained a lot of grownd. Emma was 136 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:47,840 Speaker 1: also active in advocating for Jewish refugees. Outside of her writing. 137 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:51,160 Speaker 1: She helped found the Hebrew Technical Institute of New York, 138 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:56,160 Speaker 1: which provided Jewish immigrants with vocational training. She also taught 139 00:08:56,240 --> 00:08:59,480 Speaker 1: English at the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society and lamented the 140 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:04,000 Speaker 1: condition of immigrants on Wards Island. From eighteen eighty five 141 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:07,920 Speaker 1: to eighteen eighty seven, Emma traveled throughout Europe, during which 142 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:10,920 Speaker 1: time she became sick. She traveled as a way to 143 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:14,360 Speaker 1: regain her composure and strength after her father died, according 144 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:18,000 Speaker 1: to Emma's sister Josephine, but by the time she got 145 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:20,760 Speaker 1: back to New York in eighteen eighty seven, her eyesight 146 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:23,680 Speaker 1: was poor, She lost hearing in one ear, and she 147 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:27,920 Speaker 1: had paralysis in her face. She died in November of 148 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:32,319 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty seven at age thirty eight, probably of Hodgkins slimphoma. 149 00:09:33,960 --> 00:09:36,760 Speaker 1: After she died, her family, who had not shared the 150 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:40,680 Speaker 1: same openness about their Jewish heritage, nor been super comfortable 151 00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:44,280 Speaker 1: with her activism since herd Emma's pro Jewish and Zionist 152 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:49,400 Speaker 1: views and posthumous publications, I'm Eves Jeff Coote and hopefully 153 00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:51,920 Speaker 1: you know a little more about history today than you 154 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:55,400 Speaker 1: did yesterday. If you'd like to learn more about Emma, 155 00:09:55,520 --> 00:09:57,640 Speaker 1: you can check out the episode of Stuff You Missed 156 00:09:57,679 --> 00:10:01,200 Speaker 1: in History Class called Emma Lazar. The link is in 157 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:06,280 Speaker 1: the description. You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and 158 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:13,080 Speaker 1: Facebook at t d i h C podcast. Thanks again 159 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:23,040 Speaker 1: for listening and we'll see you tomorrow. For more podcasts 160 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:26,040 Speaker 1: from I Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 161 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.