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Gerhard Domagk
Gerhard Johannes Paul Domagk (German pronunciation: [ˈɡeːɐ̯haʁt ˈdoːmak] ⓘ; 30 October 1895 – 24 April 1964) was a German pathologist and bacteriologist.
He is credited with the discovery of sulfonamidochrysoidine (KL730) as an antibiotic for which he received the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The drug became the first commercially available antibiotic and marketed under the brand name Prontosil.
While working in the pathology department of the University of Münster, Domagk was invited to join the IG Farben branch at Elberfeld (later Wuppertal) in 1927. His duty was to test chemical compounds prepared at the IG Farben laboratory for potential drugs. A novel compound synthesised by Friedrich Mietzsch and Joseph Klarer, a benzene derivative of azo dye attached with sulphonamide group as a side chain was found to have antibacterial activity against human bacterium Streptococcus pyogenes. In 1935, Domagk's only daughter, Hildegarde, injured herself and contracted a streptococcal infection. In a desperate attempt to save his daughter's arm from amputation and her life, Domagk used the new compound that eventually cured the infection. Given the brand name Prontosil, the new drug became the first antibiotic commercially available for bacterial infections.
Domagk was chosen to receive the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for the discovery of the antibacterial effects of prontosil," but the Nazi government prohibited him from receiving the award. In 1947, after the fall of Nazi Germany, he was officially given the Nobel diploma and delivered the Nobel lecture.
Domagk was born in Lagow, Brandenburg, German Empire (now Poland). His father Paul Richard Domagk was a school teacher. He had an elder brother Erich, who died in childhood, and a younger sister, Charlotte. When he was five, in 1900, his father was transferred to Sommerfeld (now Lubsko, Poland). He immediately entered the Bismarck School where he completed elementary education in 1910. Then, he attended Herzog-Heinrich School in Liegnitz where he completed secondary education in 1914.
Domagk entered the University of Kiel in 1914 to study medicine. As the First World War broke out, the university was closed and he returned to Sommerfeld. He joined the German Grenadier Regimen 7 as a volunteer along with 15 of his old school friends. In his first experience of war at Flanders in October 1914, he barely escaped death where 11 of his school friends were killed. He was transferred to eastern front in Poland in December 1914, where he was shot on the head. He was transported to Lichterfelde near Berlin where he recovered from the injury. There he was given a training as medical orderly. In May 1915, he rejoined the eastern front as a medic. He recalled the horrors and suffering, especially of infections, at the battlefields, saying "There horrible impressions kept pursuing me during my whole life, and made me think how I could take measures against bacteria... I then swore, in case I would return to my home alive, to work and work to make a small contribution to solve that problem."
As the war ended in November 1918, Domagk resumed his medical course at Kiel. His doctoral thesis titled Beeinflussung der Kreatininausscheidung durch Muskelarbeit (Influence of Creatinine Excretion in the Urine through Muscular Activity) was supervised by Max Buerger and with that he earned his degree in 1921. Between 1922 and 1923, he worked as an assistant to Georg Hoppe-Seyler at Kiel.
In 1923, he met Walter Gross, the Director of the Institute of Pathology at the University of Greifswald, at the conference of German Society of Pathology in Leipzig. Gross was impressed with him and appointed him a junior doctor at Greifswald. He supported Domagk's research on phagocytosis, an immune process discovered by Russian zoologist Elie Metchnikoff, so far as permitting excessive use of electricity, constant photographic lights, and free roaming of experimental mice, all of which angered the janitor. Domagk's thesis "Destroying infectious diseases through the reticuloendothelium and the development of amyloid", published in 1924 in Virchows Archiv für pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie und für klinische Medizin (now Virchows Archiv) was assessed as a worthy criterion for promotion to a full professor. However, Gross was appointed to the University of Münster, and he invited Domagk to join him as a lecturer at his proposed Department of Experimental Pathology.
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Gerhard Domagk
Gerhard Johannes Paul Domagk (German pronunciation: [ˈɡeːɐ̯haʁt ˈdoːmak] ⓘ; 30 October 1895 – 24 April 1964) was a German pathologist and bacteriologist.
He is credited with the discovery of sulfonamidochrysoidine (KL730) as an antibiotic for which he received the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The drug became the first commercially available antibiotic and marketed under the brand name Prontosil.
While working in the pathology department of the University of Münster, Domagk was invited to join the IG Farben branch at Elberfeld (later Wuppertal) in 1927. His duty was to test chemical compounds prepared at the IG Farben laboratory for potential drugs. A novel compound synthesised by Friedrich Mietzsch and Joseph Klarer, a benzene derivative of azo dye attached with sulphonamide group as a side chain was found to have antibacterial activity against human bacterium Streptococcus pyogenes. In 1935, Domagk's only daughter, Hildegarde, injured herself and contracted a streptococcal infection. In a desperate attempt to save his daughter's arm from amputation and her life, Domagk used the new compound that eventually cured the infection. Given the brand name Prontosil, the new drug became the first antibiotic commercially available for bacterial infections.
Domagk was chosen to receive the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for the discovery of the antibacterial effects of prontosil," but the Nazi government prohibited him from receiving the award. In 1947, after the fall of Nazi Germany, he was officially given the Nobel diploma and delivered the Nobel lecture.
Domagk was born in Lagow, Brandenburg, German Empire (now Poland). His father Paul Richard Domagk was a school teacher. He had an elder brother Erich, who died in childhood, and a younger sister, Charlotte. When he was five, in 1900, his father was transferred to Sommerfeld (now Lubsko, Poland). He immediately entered the Bismarck School where he completed elementary education in 1910. Then, he attended Herzog-Heinrich School in Liegnitz where he completed secondary education in 1914.
Domagk entered the University of Kiel in 1914 to study medicine. As the First World War broke out, the university was closed and he returned to Sommerfeld. He joined the German Grenadier Regimen 7 as a volunteer along with 15 of his old school friends. In his first experience of war at Flanders in October 1914, he barely escaped death where 11 of his school friends were killed. He was transferred to eastern front in Poland in December 1914, where he was shot on the head. He was transported to Lichterfelde near Berlin where he recovered from the injury. There he was given a training as medical orderly. In May 1915, he rejoined the eastern front as a medic. He recalled the horrors and suffering, especially of infections, at the battlefields, saying "There horrible impressions kept pursuing me during my whole life, and made me think how I could take measures against bacteria... I then swore, in case I would return to my home alive, to work and work to make a small contribution to solve that problem."
As the war ended in November 1918, Domagk resumed his medical course at Kiel. His doctoral thesis titled Beeinflussung der Kreatininausscheidung durch Muskelarbeit (Influence of Creatinine Excretion in the Urine through Muscular Activity) was supervised by Max Buerger and with that he earned his degree in 1921. Between 1922 and 1923, he worked as an assistant to Georg Hoppe-Seyler at Kiel.
In 1923, he met Walter Gross, the Director of the Institute of Pathology at the University of Greifswald, at the conference of German Society of Pathology in Leipzig. Gross was impressed with him and appointed him a junior doctor at Greifswald. He supported Domagk's research on phagocytosis, an immune process discovered by Russian zoologist Elie Metchnikoff, so far as permitting excessive use of electricity, constant photographic lights, and free roaming of experimental mice, all of which angered the janitor. Domagk's thesis "Destroying infectious diseases through the reticuloendothelium and the development of amyloid", published in 1924 in Virchows Archiv für pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie und für klinische Medizin (now Virchows Archiv) was assessed as a worthy criterion for promotion to a full professor. However, Gross was appointed to the University of Münster, and he invited Domagk to join him as a lecturer at his proposed Department of Experimental Pathology.