title: [Marius Tausk (1902-1990), influential endocrinologist and producer of medicines; a retrospect to mark the centenary of his birth].
abstract: Marius Tausk, born in Sarajevo, studied medicine at Graz in Austria. In 1926, he attended a socialist youth rally in Amsterdam. Whilst there, he met Prof. Ernst Laqueur, a pharmacologist in Amsterdam, who offered him a position at Organon, a newly-founded pharmaceutical company in Oss, the Netherlands. He remained in the Netherlands and became the driving force behind this innovative company. Tausk made many contributions to new developments across the field of endocrinology, including the discovery of the adrenal steroids (together with T. Reichstein, Nobel Prize Laureate in 1950), and the development of oral contraceptive pills. He was astute enough to quickly patent the first corticosteroids. He could quickly extract the essential elements from an information source and disseminate this in five languages. His sharp judgment brought him friends and admirers, yet also those who feared him. In 1937 he was appointed as a private lecturer at the Medical Faculty of Utrecht University and in 1956 he was made Special Professor of Theoretical Endocrinology. He was awarded a number of scientific distinctions including two honorary doctorates. In 1949 he was honoured with the Knighthood of the Order of The Netherlands Lion.
authors.affiliation: Klinisch chemicus-endocrinoloog, Universitair Medisch Centrum, afd. Speciële Laboratoria Endocrinologie, Postbus 85.090, 3508 AB Utrecht.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Lequin
authors.forename: J H H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Thijssen
mesh_terms: D001317:Austria; D004345:Drug Industry / Q000266:history; D004704:Endocrinology / Q000266:history; D049673:History, 20th Century; D009426:Netherlands