BELLEVILLE — At the intersection of Belleville and Franklin avenues stands the imposing building that was once the Essex County Isolation Hospital — a 550-bed facility whose “isolated” patients included a sizable number suffering from tuberculosis.
In 1929, when the facility was built, highly-contagious TB was an incurable disease. Also known as consumption, it had been a literal plague upon mankind for thousands of years — according to researchers, between 5,000 and 9,000.
It is obviously impossible to calculate the total number of deaths over the eons, but we have read one estimate that, in just the 19th and 20th centuries, more than 1 billion of those people who were infected met their demise.
Amazingly, though, in 1943 (a mere 14 years after the Belleville hospital opened), the cure that had ever-eluded mankind was discovered. By a 23-year-old post-graduate student working in a basement lab at Rutgers University in New Brunswick.
The young genius was Albert Schatz, who reportedly grew up on a farm (!) in Passaic (!) and graduated from Passaic High School in 1938. At Rutgers, he had worked tirelessly and passionately and, for all intents and purposes, by himself on his quest, finally bringing to light an antibiotic —streptomycin — that destroyed the tuberculosis germ. It was virtually a miracle.
But Schatz was denied the fame, the worldwide adulation — and even the basic discovery credit — he deserved. Instead, all of that — and a Nobel Prize — went to his professor, Dr. Selman A. Waksman, the university’s leading microbiologist.
Although Schatz fought for his rightful recognition in the world’s scientific community, it was basically for naught. Waksman got all the glory — for decades. But at least there was one asterisk attached.
According to Wikipedia, citing a 2002 report in Britain’s The Guardian newspaper, after it was announced that Waksman would be awarded 1952’s Nobel Prize for medicine for the “discovery” of streptomycin, the Nobel committee began receiving letters from Schatz’ supporters arguing his case.
In the end, “the Nobel committee’s wording of the actual award … was for ‘ingenious, systematic and successful studies of the soil microbes that led to the discovery of streptomycin’ rather than, ‘for the discovery of streptomycin’ as the original announcement had said.”
“Led to” was some small concession. But no Nobel for Schatz.
According to The Guardian story cited above, “In his acceptance speech, Waksman did not once mention Schatz, using the royal ‘we’ instead. Nor is there any reference to Schatz in Waksman’s 1958 memoir, ‘My Life With The Microbes’ — he is named only as ‘the graduate student.’”
The paper also quoted a Rutgers professor emeritus, Karl Maramorosch: “It was a grave injustice. The Nobel has made a few mistakes, but this was one of the worst.”
Schatz died in 2005 at age 84, but his incredible contribution to medical science — and to all mankind — is finally beginning to be recognized. In 1994, the 50th anniversary of the discovery of streptomycin, he was given the Rutgers University Medal, the school’s highest honor, though it didn’t back off from the sainted Waksman.
In ‘94, Michael Perrone (now president of the Belleville Historical Society) and Kevin Kennedy (now a Belleville councilman) were aides in the office of then-Assemblyman John Kelly, who asked them to help prepare a resolution on behalf of the State Legislature honoring Schatz.
“It’s something we never forgot,” Perrone told The Observer. “This was one of the greatest discoveries in history, and few people knew the story.”
Recently, the Belleville Town Council passed its own resolution in recognition of the upcoming 75th anniversary of Schatz’ accomplishment and encouraging “our state and national leaders … to recognize the monumental work and discovery of Dr. Albert Schatz and the work of Dr. Selman Waksman.”
Note who gets the “discovery” credit.
Perrone’s hope is that Schatz’ monumental accomplishment will serve as an inspiration to the young.
“Here,” Perrone said, “was a kid, five years out of high school, and he made this unbelievable discovery. It should be an inspiration for students everywhere. You CAN change the world!”
