<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The antibiotic streptomycin was first isolated on October 19, 1943, at Rutgers University in the US.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Streptomycin was found to be the first antibiotic cure for moderate to severe bacterial infections – including tuberculosis, one of the deadliest diseases on Earth.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Tuberculosis is estimated to have killed over a billion people over the last two centuries.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/anthony-albanese-donald-trump-meeting-preview/da4559f7-d7f1-47ff-9a32-3d2ac52924f0" target="_blank" title="The wretched fate Anthony Albanese is hoping to dodge in two days"><strong><span>The wretched fate Anthony Albanese is hoping to dodge in two days</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Streptomycin was isolated by PhD student Albert Schatz after a few months of gruelling research working around the clock in a lonely lab, even risking exposure to the deadly disease himself.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Athough his supervisor Selman Waksman claimed the credit, alleging Schatz was just a lab assistant.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Waksman received the Nobel Prize for the breakthrough, along with substantial royalties.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/today-in-history-october-19-what-happened-on-this-day/b898103e-0fd7-4ba6-8e8b-ab1b409f652e" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Schatz went on to sue Waksman and Rutgers for his share of the royalties.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>This legal battle became one of the biggest fights for credit in the history of scientific discovery.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Schatz was eventually given three per cent of the royalties, but was never hired to work in a top-level microbiology lab again.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/queensland-south-east-logan-fears-multiple-takeaway-orders-contaminated-after-cluster-of-people-sick-with-rat-poisoning/6e97b752-a4a8-4bb9-8839-208956841063" target="_blank" title="Fears multiple takeaway orders contaminated with rat poison"><strong><span>Fears multiple takeaway orders contaminated with rat poison</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Testing the drug was a difficult procedure.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The first test patient died, and the second went blind as a side effect.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The third patient, Robert Dole, was dying from an infection after being hit with a shell during World War II.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/queensland-weather-severe-storms-power-outages/37826a47-d1a7-4cdc-bf5a-99f3471ea0ce" rel="" target="_blank" title="Giant hailstones unleashed on state during wild storm"><strong><span>Giant hailstones unleashed on state during wild storm</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Dole not only recovered, but lived until he was 98.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In his long life he would become a congressman, then a senator, then the Republican nominee for president in 1996.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He lost to Bill Clinton.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a 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