Domagk

Gerhard Johannes Paul Domagk (30 October 1895 – 1964) was a German physician, pathologist, and bacteriologist whose work led to the development of the first broadly effective antibacterial drugs. In the early 1930s, while working for Bayer at IG Farben in Germany, Domagk and his team tested prontosil rubrum, a red azo dye, for its therapeutic effects. They found that prontosil protected animals from streptococcal infections and, subsequently, that clinical benefit extended to humans. It was later shown that the active constituent was a sulfonamide (sulfanilamide), establishing the sulfonamide class of antibiotics and inaugurating the era of chemotherapy for bacterial infections.

For this discovery Domagk was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1939. However, the Nazi regime did not permit him to travel to Stockholm to collect the prize; the prize was not formally presented to him in person until after the war. Domagk's work contributed to the rapid development of antibiotic therapy, though prontosil itself is rarely used today, having been superseded by more specific and safer antibiotics. He continued to conduct medical research in Germany until his death in 1964.