Gerhard Domagk
German bacteriologist (1895-1964)
- Fame56.3
- Momentum0.0
- Germany rank#209
GermanySummary
Updated 2026-06-21
He turned a dye into the first antibiotic you could buy — then tested it on his own daughter when infection threatened her life.
Biography
About
Gerhard Domagk was working as a pathologist at the University of Münster when IG Farben brought him to Elberfeld in 1927 to screen chemical compounds for therapeutic use. He tested a benzene derivative synthesised by Fritz Mietzsch and Joseph Klarer — an azo dye carrying a sulphonamide side chain — and found it killed Streptococcus pyogenes. In 1935 his daughter Hildegarde injured herself and developed a streptococcal infection; facing amputation, Domagk used the compound and cured her. The drug went to market as Prontosil, the first commercially available antibiotic. He was awarded the 1939 N…
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The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.
Fame
Stable56.3
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Historical22.8
Source confidence60.0
Completeness70.0
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- WikidataHigh confidencewikidata · wikidata.org
- WikipediaHigh confidencewikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- Pantheon 2.0High confidencedatabase · pantheon.world
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