Gerhard Domagk

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Gerhard Domagk

Gerhard Domagk AKA Gerhard Johannes Paul Domagk

Born: 30-Oct-1895
Birthplace: Lagów, Germany
Died: 24-Apr-1964
Location of death: Burgberg, Germany
Cause of death: unspecified

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Scientist, Doctor

Nationality: Germany
Executive summary: Sulfa drugs for strep, stapf infections

Military service: German Army (1914-18)

German chemist and pathologist Gerhard Domagk researched infections caused by bacteria, and found that an industrial dye, prontosil rubrum, had antibacterial action that proved an effective treatment for staphylococci and haemolytic streptococci. While staph infections are generally minor maladies today, in Domagk 's time the only effective treatment usually involved amputation of limbs. It was also the first sulfa drug, the group of sulfur-based antibiotics that interfere with bacterial metabolism. Sulfa drugs are still used today.

For his discovery of prontosil's therapeutic effect, Dr Domagk was named a Nobel Prize winner in 1939, but he was ordered by Nazi authorities to decline the honor. His mother was driven from their family home, and starved to death in a refugee camp.

Father: (assistant headmaster)
Mother: Martha Reimer Domagk
Wife: Gertrud Strübe Domagk (m. 1925, three sons, one daughter)
Son: Götz Domagk (author, b. 1926)
Daughter: Hildegard Domagk (b. 1929)
Son: Wolfgang Domagk (b. 1930)
Son: Jörg Domagk (b. 1932)

Medical School: BA Medicine, University of Kiel (1921)
Scholar: Metabolic studies, University of Kiel (1921-23)
Scholar: Metabolic studies, University of Greifswald (1923-24)
Teacher: Pathological Anatomy, University of Greifswald (1924-25)
Teacher: Pathological Anatomy, University of Münster (1925-27, 29-58)
Professor: Pathological Anatomy, University of Münster (1958-64)

Bayer AG (Pharmacologist, 1927-29)
Nobel Prize for Medicine 1939
Royal Society

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