1920–1983) — known as John Ziegler and Montana Jack — was the American physician who originally developed the anabolic steroid Methandrostenolone (Dianabol, DBOL) which was released in the USA in 1958 by Ciba.
He was descended from three generations of doctors going back to the American Civil War, and his father had been both practicing physician and a scientist who had discovered the salt tablet.
[2] He served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps in the Pacific in World War II, where he suffered extensive bullet wounds.
In 1954, after he settled in Olney, Maryland he specialized in the treatment of handicapped and seriously injured patients whilst conducting part-time chemistry research at Ciba Pharmaceuticals in Summit, N.J.[2] He became an enthusiastic weightlifter who pumped iron at the York Barbell Club, which was at the center of American fitness training thanks to its owner Bob Hoffman.
Returning to America, Ziegler tried weak doses of testosterone on himself, on the American trainer Bob Hoffman and on three lifters, John Grimek, Jim Park and Yaz Kuzahara.
Working at CIBA allowed Ziegler access to books and records from Germany where experiments with testosterone had been carried out by the Nazis, and which had been confiscated by the United States after the war.