User:Ty Aldridge/Elizabeth Bugie

Lead
Bugie's father, Charles Bugie, never studied beyond high school, and was committed to her education. He encouraged Elizabeth Bugie explore her curiosities, prompting her be very analytical and strong willed.

Career
After graduating, Bugie got married to Francis Joseph Gregory, who also worked as a microbiologist in the Waksman lab. Bugie eventually returned to academia to get a degree in library science after raising her family.

Article body
Streptomycin has an interesting history with many people who play a part in the discovery of it. Three people who play a large role are Selman Waksman, Albert Shatz, and Elizabeth Bugie (later known as Elizabeth Gregory). These three colleagues worked closely together to ultimately, as a group, discover streptomycin. The only thing that made their discovery unfair was the recognition in comparison to the contribution by all three. Waksman got the most recognition, known as the father of antibiotics.

When looking at the contributions made to the study and discovery of Streptomycin, Bugie has clearly made just as much of an impact, if not more than Shatz has. We see the uneven distribution of this through the amount of compensation that each contributor gets after the discovery. Schatz sued Waksman in order to get royalties, but when they each got their share, the distribution was off. Waksman got 10%, Schatz got 3%, and all of the other members of the lab shared the last 7%, in which Bugie for 0.2%. We also learn that when the patent was created, both Waksman and Shatz did not include Bugie’s name on it, claiming that it wouldn’t matter for her because someday she will be married and have kids. When the patent was originally signed, Elizabeth Bugie also signed an affidavit. In this affidavit, Bugie had stated that she was informed about streptomycin from Dr. Waksman and Albert Shatz and had no part in the discovery of streptomycin. Bugie was however later quoted by her daughters as having said that if the women's liberation movement had been present, that she then would have received credit towards the patent on streptomycin. When hearing about Bugie and her impact, we learn that Shatz explained “the fact that Waksman asked her to do the work was a testimonial to her talents and competence” This shows how much of an impact she actually made, and how little she was compensated for it.

The most notable trait that makes Bugie stand out in comparison to her peers in the discovery of Streptomycin would be her heart behind why she practiced medicine. Her daughter explains that her mom “did research not for notoriety but for love of science”. This shows that she didn’t necessarily need to be recognized but just wanted to help people in any way she can. Elizabeth Bugie