This proposal is for support for the research and writing of parts of a book on the history of the sulfa drugs. The whole study includes the background to chemotherapy in 19th-century pharmacology; pharmacological research at Bayer/I.G. Farbenindustrie 1900-1936; Gerhard Domagk and the discovery of the prontosil; sulfnonamides research at the Institut Pasteur, Paris; early laboratory and clinical studies in Britain and the U.S.; the development of sulfanilamide derivatives; the Elixer Sulfanilamide disaster and drug-control legislation; the sulfonamides in World War II, mechanism of action studies 1936-1950; and the situation of chemotherapy research in this century. The relations of science and technology, the industrialization of science, the international character of the scientific enterprise, the focusing of public attention on the sciences, the increasing involvement of government, and the nature of disciplinary boundaries are major themes of 20th-century science potentially represented in this investigation. Research includes study of published primary and secondary literature, and of archival materials gathered in Europe and the U.S. Work for the grant period will emphasize the writing of chapter drafts on the subtopics listed above for which research has been completed; and the extension of research to cover the remaining sub-topics.
