Carl Duisberg

Friedrich Carl Duisberg, who lived from 29 September 1861 to 19 March 1935, was a German chemist and industrialist and a co-founder of I.G. Farben. Born in Barmen, he studied at the universities of Göttingen and Jena, took his doctorate, and in 1883 joined the dye works of Friedr. Bayer and Co., which later became Bayer AG. He rose to head of research and became chief executive of Bayer in 1900. Inspired by a tour of the United States and the example of Standard Oil, he and Carl Bosch of BASF led the push that merged the German dye makers into I.G. Farben in 1925, and he headed its supervisory board. He also moved Bayer into pharmaceuticals, supporting Gerhard Domagk's work that found the antibiotic Prontosil. The article also records his wartime conduct, including advice in 1916 to deport 60,000 people from occupied Belgium for labor, and his role in pressing for the use of chemical weapons in the First World War. He died in Leverkusen.