Gerhard Domagk

Gerhard Domagk

Gerhard Domagk (1895 - 1964) German pathologist and bacteriologist, credited with the discovery of Sulfonamidochrysoidine (a sulphonamide marketed under the brand name Prontosil), the first commercially available chemotherapeutic drug for treating infections, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1939. Domagk's daughter was the first to receive the drug when he tried it out on her during a serious bout of streptococcal infection curing her of the illness and thereby establishing its potency. Domagk was forced to refuse the Nobel prize by the Nazi regime, and he was even arrested by the Gestapo for a week. Domagk also went on to discover other effective drugs against infectious agents like thiosemicarbazones & isoniazid, both effective in the treatment of tuberculosis. Domagk's final goal was to discover a chemotherapeutic agent which would effectively combat and conquer cancer, for which he devoted much of his final years of life.