Beginning of DDT

     First synthesized in 1874 by Austrian chemist Othmar Zeidler (1) as an insecticidal property to control insect vectors of typhus. Dr. Paul Hermann Muller was awarded a Noble Prize in 1948 for Physiology and Medicine for his effort.  During World War II  DDT was extensively sprayed to control insect vectors of typhus, malaria and dungue fever in Europe and South Pacific. Later back in North America DDT was available to farmers to spray in their fields for many years. Yet, DDT was a very effective chemical against various insects in many countries, but less effective in tropical regions due to the continuous life cycle of mosquitoes and poor infrastructure. Rich countries with big cities were able to spray often but poor countries were not able to spray and gain the benefits of DDT.

References

1. ^ A birth year of 1859 would make him a mere 14 years old at the time of his dissertation in 1873. The 1859 birth yearwas used by Joseph S. Fruton, in his Contrasts in scientific style: research groups in the chemical and biochemical sciences, Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, Vol 191, 1990, page 373, as well as by Gerhard Oberkofler inLeopold Ruzicka, 1887-1976: schweizer Chemiker und Humanist aus Altösterreich‎ - Page 44. The latter even has him quit his pharmacy studies at the Vienna University in 1872 (at the apparent age of 12/13) to move to Strassburg.

• History | CDC Malaria at www.cdc.gov

• Othmar Zeidler (1874). "Verbindungen von Chloral mit Brom- und Chlorbenzol". Berichte der deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft 7 (2): 1180–1181. doi:10.1002/cber.18740070278