Chapter 61: The First Nobel Prize-Level Talent

Expand your horizons!

Since we stand on the shoulders of giants in history, we must take bolder strides.

Although taking bigger steps risks stumbling, a thousand years is too long—seize the day.

Just as Li Yi’an resolved to move forward decisively, Heidrick had already arrived at Mayo Clinic. In the basement of Mayo Clinic, he found the person he sought on this trip.

“Mr. Schatz, these are the terms offered by Jisheng Pharmaceuticals: a monthly salary of $500 and a...” Heidrick glanced at the locked door of the basement.

“A laboratory with better conditions than this one.”

“Sir, the reason I work here is because there is no protective equipment. To prevent the tuberculosis bacteria from spreading and harming others—after all, some have already contracted tuberculosis—I have no choice but to work alone in this underground lab to avoid infecting anyone else.”

Albert Schatz’s response earned Heidrick’s admiration.

“I understand. Mr. Schatz, you are a kind-hearted man, and that is why you deserve better laboratory conditions and, of course, better compensation.”

“But...” Albert Schatz said,

“I still have my doctoral thesis to publish, and here I have Professor Waksman guiding my research.”

“Mr. Schatz, in New York, you will find better professors and scholars—I can guarantee that the company will not interfere with your studies. I know you recently left the military hospital due to a back injury and returned to Waksman’s lab because you had no better options. Now, the opportunity is right before you. If I were you, I would seize it tightly. After all, both your family and you personally need this job.”

As he spoke, Heidrick placed a contract before him, emphasizing,

“This is a long-term employment contract.”

For Albert Schatz, who came from a poor farming family in Connecticut, this contract was undeniably tempting. Five hundred dollars a month—even Professor Waksman’s salary was not this high.

“Let me... think about it...” Schatz replied.

In truth, ordinary people often have no real choice. Albert Schatz knew what he ought to do.

...

“Well, another Nobel Prize in the bag!”

After receiving Heidrick’s telegram, Li Yi’an leaned back in his chair and softly whistled.

“A Nobel Prize without scandal—is it really a Nobel Prize?”

Who was Albert Schatz?

He was the true inventor of streptomycin.

Yet his achievements were stolen—this remains one of the most notorious scandals in academic history.

Albert Schatz studied soil biology at Rutgers University in New Jersey—not out of passion but because he had no better options. He believed that knowledge of soil biology might prove useful on the farm.

In 1943, his expertise gave him an intuition: there must be a new antibiotic among soil microbes capable of rivaling penicillin. Penicillin was ineffective against Gram-negative bacteria—the type that causes tuberculosis. So Schatz patiently tested thousands of samples, and within a year, he developed the first drug capable of killing Gram-negative bacteria—streptomycin. This was one of the 20th century’s most significant breakthroughs in microbiology.

His advisor, Selman Waksman, immediately took notice. Afraid of infection, Waksman never entered the lab but took charge of the drug’s clinical trials. During this process, he had Schatz sign an agreement transferring patent rights to Rutgers University. Later, the young Schatz discovered that Waksman claimed all the credit for the discovery and blocked him from attending conferences, thus all the praise and attention rightfully due to Schatz belonged to Waksman.

Waksman stole not only the glory but also the money. Although Schatz opposed patenting a drug beneficial to humanity, under his mentor’s insistence, they jointly applied for the patent, agreeing to sell it to Glaxo University for one dollar—meaning Schatz would receive no financial benefit from his invention.

What Schatz never expected was that Glaxo University secretly arranged for twenty percent of the royalties to go directly to Waksman.

In the years that followed, Waksman reaped honors—including the 1952 Nobel Prize as the inventor of streptomycin—and received millions in annual royalties.

What could Schatz do after such betrayal of his original intentions and theft of his reputation?

Unable to obtain satisfactory results, Schatz eventually sued Waksman and Rutgers University—and won. In the settlement, he was recognized as a “co-discoverer” and received some royalties and honors. But the lawsuit ruined him—suing one’s academic superior was seen as a disgraceful act.

Thus, Schatz, who should have won the Nobel Prize as the inventor of streptomycin and amassed great wealth, was crushed by the academic establishment—academic tyranny is not exclusive to China. He lost his job and faced repeated rejections from mainstream journals for his papers.

Only twenty years after Waksman’s death did the American Society for Microbiology make a belated effort, inviting Schatz to speak on the 50th anniversary of streptomycin’s discovery to right past wrongs. To honor his achievements, they awarded him their highest accolade: the Selman Waksman Medal.

Life is often steeped in irony.

This remains the greatest scandal in academic history: a mentor stealing his student’s discovery, claiming the Nobel Prize and the title “Father of Antibiotics,” while the true inventor was suppressed, marginalized, and lived a life of sorrow.

But now, everything is different.

Schatz will conduct experiments in a laboratory provided by the company. No one will steal his honors—though, of course, his patents will belong to the company.

Before the patent expires, how much profit will streptomycin bring to the company?

With a slight smile, Li Yi’an said proudly,

“At that time, this won’t be just a small goal!”

The pharmaceutical profits alone may well support the postwar reconstruction of North Borneo!

Once again, Li Yi’an’s thoughts flew to that land in Southeast Asia—though it was a poor backwater with only hundreds of thousands of people, and still largely unknown to him, what did that matter?

This piece of territory, no matter what, must be claimed!