Elizabeth Bugie was born to Charles Bugie and Madeline Turbett. Bugie's father never studied beyond high school, and was committed to her education.[1] He encouraged her to explore her curiosity, prompting her to be analytical and strong-willed.[2]
Bugie studied microbiology at the New Jersey College for Women.[1] She was a master's student at Rutgers University, working with Selman Waksman.[1] Her master's thesis, Production of antibiotic substances by aspergillus flavus and chaetomium cochliodes, looked to optimise the production of flavicin and chaetomin.[3]
Bugie worked on antimicrobials which could protect plants from Dutch elm disease.[4] In 1944 Bugie, Waksman and Albert Schatz identified streptomycin in cultures of soil organisms, an antibiotic which was found to be active against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.[5][6] Bugie was told that it was not important for her name to be on the patent as she would "one day get married and have a family".[1][7] Waksman went on to win the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1952 and took all the credit for the discovery of streptomycin.[1] Waksman claimed that Bugie was more involved in the discovery than Schatz.[8] Waksman also wrote articles about his discovery, rarely mentioning help he had received.[1][9] Bugie was eventually awarded 0.2% of the royalties for streptomycin.[10] After the discovery of streptomycin, Bugie worked on micromonosporin, a pigmented glycoprotein which was active against gram-positive bacteria.[11] Bugie worked for Merck & Co., evaluating pyrazinoic acid and penicillin as antibiotics against mycobacterium tuberculosis.[12] Bugie developed several antimicrobial substances.[13][14]
After graduating, Bugie married Francis Joseph Gregory, who also worked as a microbiologist in the Waksman lab.[1] Bugie eventually returned to academia to get a degree in library science after raising her family.[1] Bugie's daughter, Eileen Gregory, is a microbiologist at Rollins College.[1] and has stated that her mother "did research not for notoriety but for love of science".[2]
Bugie died on April 10, 2001.[15]
In the discovery of Streptomycin three people played a large role, namely Waksman, Shatz, and Bugie, later known as Elizabeth Gregory. They worked closely together to ultimately, as a group, discover streptomycin. Waksman historically received the most recognition.
When looking at the contributions made to the study and discovery of streptomycin, Bugie contributed as much, if not more than Shatz.[16] However there was an uneven distribution in compensation that each contributor received. Schatz sued Waksman in order to get royalties,[1] but when each got their share, Waksman received 10%, Schatz 3%, and all of the other members of the lab shared the last 7%, in which Bugie received 0.2%.[2] When the patent was created, neither Waksman nor Shatz included Bugie, claiming that it would not matter because someday she would be married and have kids.[17] When the patent was originally signed, Bugie signed an affidavit.[18] In this affidavit, Bugie stated that she was informed about streptomycin by Waksman and Shatz and had no part in the discovery of streptomycin.[18] Bugie was, however, later quoted by her daughters as having said that if the women's liberation movement had been present, she would have received credit towards the patent on streptomycin.[1] Shatz explained "the fact that Waksman asked her to do the work was a testimonial to her talents and competence,"[2]showing how much of an impact she actually made, and how little she was compensated for it.
^Schatz, Albert; Bugle, Elizabeth; Waksman, Selman A. (1944-01-01). "Streptomycin, a Substance Exhibiting Antibiotic Activity Against Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative Bacteria". Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine. 55 (1): 66–69. doi:10.3181/00379727-55-14461. ISSN0037-9727. S2CID33680180.
