Gerhard Domagk discovered the first synthetic drug that could be used to battle the effects of many bacterial diseases. He was born in Lagow, Brandenburg (which is now Poland, but was then Germany) on October 30, 1895. Domagk began his studies at the University of Kiel but abruptly stopped at the outbreak of World War I during which he served in the military and was wounded in action. He returned to school to study medicine and was awarded a medical degree in 1921.

After his schooling, Domagk began working for I.G. Farbenindustrie, a large company that manufactured industrial dyes. Because of his medical training, he did research on dyes with an eye toward their medical applications. One newly manufactured dye, called Prontosil Red, was of particular interest to Domagk. In 1932, Domagk found that when he injected dye into mice infected with Streptococcus bacteria, it cured the animals of the usually...