Paper short abstract:

In the early 20th-century, Selman A. Waksman, a prominent soil bacteriologist, harnessed soil microbes to create antibiotics. This paper reframes Waksman's work from an ecological perspective to shed light on the ecological and economic connections between microbes, humans, and the environment.

Paper long abstract:

For soil bacteriologists in early 20th-century America, microbes represented not pathogenic pests, but agricultural resources much like water, seeds and livestock. As such, microbes became organisms to be controlled, rationalized, and exploited. This paper delves into the groundbreaking contributions of Selman A. Waksman, a renowned soil bacteriologist, and his use of soil microbes to develop antibiotics. The work of Waksman not only transformed the landscape of medicine, but it also offers valuable insights into the historical evolution of microbial economies. The familiar story of Waksman's journey typically begins with his understanding of the untapped potential residing within the microbial communities of soil. As several scholars have noted, Waksman meticulously isolated and characterized numerous actinomycetes, unveiling their profound antibiotic capabilities. This work led to the development of Streptomycin, the tuberculosis-fighting treatment for which Waksman was awarded the 1952 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. As early as 1925, however, Waksman called for a holistic, biological-complex approach to understanding the processes which take place in the soil itself while referring to the ecology of soil strata. This paper argues that it was this anti-reductionist thinking which allowed Waksman to exploit both the agricultural and the medicinal potentials of microbial soil systems. In his development of antibiotics, soil microbes were employed as drivers of new medical economies and socio-ecological reconfigurations alike. Using an ecological, historical lens, this paper reframes Waksman’s pioneering antibiotics work at the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station to elucidate the ecological and economic interdependence between microbes, humans, and the environment.