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R u t g e r s U n i v e r s i t y T a r g u m : N o v e m b e r 1 4 , 1 9 5 2 Print Article | Open Image Viewer Waksman's Award Protested by College A protest was recently registered with the Nobel Committee for Medicine because it awarded the 1952 prize to Dr. Waksman without mentioning Dr. Albert Schatz, co-discoverer of streptomycin. The protest was lodged by the administration and faculty of the National Agricultural College, Doylestown, Pa., where Dr. Schatz is a member of the Microbiology Department. Dr. Schatz was called by Targum for a statement last evening and refused to make any comment, although he did read the text of the letter sent to Sweden by his colleagues. The letter expressed "profound satisfaction" that the Nobel Prize was awarded for the discovery of streptomycin. However, "amazement" was noted in that the award was made solely to Dr. Waksman, one of the co-discoverers. A further consideration by the committee was also asked for in the statement. It was mentioned in the protest that the 1945 Nobel Prize was awarded "in the most equitable manner" to Sir Alexander Fleming and his two co-discoverers as the joint discoverers of penicillin. Dr. Schatz was named codiscoverer of streptomycin following a suit in 1950 which he brought against Dr. Waksman and the Rutgers Research and Endowment Foundation. In addition to acknowledging Dr. Schatz as being "legally and scientifically co-discoverer," a settlement gave him $125,000 and $15,000 a year in royalties for the life of the American patent. Dr. Waksman, President Jones and Provost Gross were unavailable for comment last night.
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