The Schatz v

Electronic New Jersey: A Digital Archive of New Jersey History

New Jersey in the American Revolution	Paul Robeson		World War II and NJ
New Jersey in the Civil War	Jersey Homesteads		Social Protest in the 1960s and 1970s
Mass Culture and Consumerism		History of Science and Technology

The Schatz v. Waksman Lawsuit - 1950

A lawsuit concerning the discovery, patenting, and royalties generated from Streptomycin.

Background: Albert Schatz ,as a graduate student, worked with Selman Waksman and helped the professor in his antibiotics research, but the amount of academic and financial credit Schatz should receive is in question. Waksman, between 1939-1950, patented 8 antibiotic substances, and had the royalties assigned to the Rutgers Research and Educational Foundation to help develop the Rutgers Institute for Microbiology (today the Waksman Institute). Shatz became concerned when Waksman began receiving monies from the Foundation ($380,000 alleged by Schatz) and filed a civil suit.

These documents are meant to be viewed in sequence. Clicking on the links will bring up the document in Adobe Acrobat® Reader if you have it already installed. It is suggested that you print one copy of each and duplicate them into document packets for your students.

The complaint/lawsuit (May 23, 1949) pages 1 2 3 4 5

Letter to Dr. Waksman from S. Epstein (Dec. 6, 1949) page 1 2

Affidavit by Dr. Waksman pages 1 2 3 4

Defense Strategy/Questionnaire for Schatz pages 1 2 3 4

Rutgers News Service press release March 12, 1950

Letters of support for Dr. Waksman 1 2 3 4

Letter to Dr. R. L. Stanley / Univ. of California (May 24, 1950) page 1 2

Letter to Dr. Donald Reynolds (June 1, 1950) page 1 2

Letter to Dudley Watson, attorney (June 9, 1950)

Letter to Miss Dorcas Fasan (June 7, 1950)

Statement by Dr. Robert Clothier, President Rutgers University (Dec. 29, 1950)

Go to the POSTSCRIPTS to this case.