Waksman. Selman

Volta found that a current was produced when two different metal disks such as silver and zinc were separated by a moist conductor, such as paper soaked in salt water, and brought into contact by a wire. By stacking a collection of silver-moist paper-zinc units, in effect forming a pile, Volta determined that the current intensified. If someone touched the top of such a voltaic pile (as this early battery was called) and put his or her other hand in a dish of salt water that was connected to the bottom metal disk by a strip of metal, that person would feel a continuous, if weak, shock. 

The voltaic pile also had appfications in other fields of science. William Cruikshank discovered the process of electroplating while working with a voltaic pile. Davy constructed the first crude electric fight with the pile in 1820. SEE ALSO Davy, Humphry Electrochemistry Zinc. 

Dibner, Bern (1964). Alessandro Volta and the Electric Battery. New York Watts. 

Aaron John (1984). The Development of Modem Chemistry. New York Dover. 

Selman Waksman changed the course of medical history while investigating how soil microbes defended themselves against invaders. He and coworkers isolated twenty-two new defensive compounds produced by soil microbes and in the process discovered streptomycin, the first antibiotic effective against tuberculosis. For his discovery of streptomycin, Waksman received the 1952 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. 

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Waksman, Selman Abraham (1888-1973) American Biochemist Selman Abraham Waksman was born in Priluka, near Kiev, Russia, on July 22, 1888, to Jacob Waksman and Fradia London. He received his early education from private tutors and took school training in Odessa in an evening school, also with private tutors. 

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