Home / Birthday profiles / Klaus Schmiegel

Birthday profile

Klaus Schmiegel

Klaus Schmiegel, German chemist

Find birthday twinsOpen interactive profile
Born
June 28, 1939
Age in 2026
87
Zodiac sign
Cancer
Birth year
1939

About Klaus Schmiegel

Klaus Schmiegel, is a German chemist best known for his work in organic chemistry, which led to the invention of Prozac, a widely used antidepressant. This compound became the first selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and the active ingredient in the vastly popular and effective drug Prozac. By 1999, Prozac was bringing in $2.5 billion per year, 25% of Eli Lilly's revenue. At Eli Lilly in the 1960s, Schmiegel and Bryan Molloy, with the help of David Wong, searched for a compound to combat depression.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when Klaus Schmiegel was born

Klaus Schmiegel was born in 1939. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1939

  • #1 song"Over the Rainbow" – Judy Garland
  • Top movieGone with the Wind
  • Best-selling bookThe Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentLou Gehrig delivers his "Luckiest Man" farewell speech
  • Top headlineGermany invades Poland — World War II begins
  • Technology milestoneFirst regular television broadcasts in the US (NBC)
  • Defining fadThe Wizard of Oz mania
  • Notable inventionNylon stockings
  • World population2.30 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • U.S. population130.9M

1939 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Klaus Schmiegel's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19392026
Gas$0.19$3.45/gal
Average home$5,200$435,000
Average income$2,900$67,500
Minimum wage$0.30$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population130.9M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, National Inventors Hall of Fame. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.