The Ballad of Schatz and Waksman

[TrevorConway]

Hi everyone,

So, I've tried a revision of this in another form. Let me know what ye think, whether it wrks or just doesn't cut the mustard.

Thanks very much.


The Ballad of Schatz and Waksman


Albert Schatz, from Connecticut,
was a farmer’s son entranced by soil;
at university, he studied the stuff,
and found, after months of toil,
that what he long suspected was true:
a microbe found in a handful of dirt
produced an antibiotic that soon
would spare lives across the Earth.

His supervisor, a man by the name
of Selman Waksman, assumed control
of the clinical trials and, without shame,
claimed credit for the work he stole.
He also pilfered the patent rights
and made millions from all the doses
given to spluttering lungs to fight,
and indeed defeat, tuberculosis.

Waksman gained a Nobel Prize,
while Schatz earned no such dividends,
his work largely unrecognised
until he was given an ironic amends
that left him proud but also astounded:
a medal from the very university
that honoured the thief when it founded
the Waksman Institute of Microbiology.