Domagk, Gerhard

Domagk, Gerhard (gĕr`härt dō`mäk), 1895–1964, German chemist and pathologist. A teacher successively at the universities of Greifswald and Münster, he became (1927) director of research at the I. G. Farbenindustrie laboratory at Wuppertal. Because of a Nazi decree he was obliged to decline the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. In 1947 he received a gold medal in lieu of the prize money. The award was made for his discovery of the efficacy of prontosil, the forerunner of the sulfa drugs, in treating streptococcal infections.

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Domagk, Gerhard

(born Oct. 30, 1895, Lagow, Brandenburg, Ger.—died April 24, 1964, Burgberg, near Königsfeld, W.Ger.) German bacteriologist and pathologist. While director of the Bayer Laboratory for Experimental Pathology and Bacteriology, Domagk noticed the antibacterial action of a dye, Prontosil red, against streptococcal infection in mice. Found to be an effective treatment in humans, Prontosil became the first sulfonamide drug. Awarded a Nobel Prize in 1939, Domagk was unable to accept it at the time because of Nazi policy. He also was active in research on tuberculosis and cancer.