Paul Hermann Müller, also known as Pauly Mueller[citation needed] (12 January 1899 – 13 October 1965), was a Swiss chemist who received the 1948 Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine for his 1939 discovery of insecticidal qualities and use of DDT in the control of vector diseases such as malaria and yellow fever.

[1] While working for Rupe as assistant, he received his PhD writing a dissertation entitled Die chemische und elektrochemische Oxidation des as.

[1] In 1935, Geigy began research on moth- and plant-protection agents and Müller was specifically interested in plant protection.

He sought to "synthesize the ideal contact insecticide—one which would have a quick and powerful toxic effect upon the largest possible number of insect species while causing little or no harm to plants and warm-blooded animals."

He also made it his goal to create an insecticide that was long-lasting and cheap to produce, along with a high degree of chemical stability.

[2] The compound he had placed in the cage was dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), or, more precisely, 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethane, which a Viennese pharmacologist named Othmar Zeidler had first synthesized in 1874.

Zeidler, while publishing a paper about his synthesis, had not investigated the properties of the new compound, and had thus failed to recognize its extraordinary value as an insecticide.

Tests of DDT by the Swiss government and the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed its effectiveness against the Colorado potato beetle.

Further tests demonstrated its astonishing effectiveness against a wide range of pests, including the mosquito, louse, flea, and sandfly, which, respectively, spread malaria, typhus, the plague, and various tropical diseases.

In 1948 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, "for his discovery of the high efficiency of DDT as a contact poison against several arthropods.

"[3] The fact that he was accorded this honour even though he was neither a physician nor a medical researcher reflected the immense impact that DDT had had in the fight against human disease.

[5] In addition to the 1948 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, Müller received an honorary doctorate from the University of Thessalonica in Greece in recognition of DDT's impact on the Mediterranean region.

In high school and college, Müller was often mocked by his peers being called, "The Ghost," due to his thin and pale appearance.

Müller often relaxed while gardening, photographing mountain wildflowers, and taking the children on early morning nature walks.

Moreover, Müller and his wife often enjoyed playing flute and piano duets from Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice.