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August Paul von Wassermann (1866-1925) was a German bacteriologist. He studied at several universities throughout Germany, and in 1890 began to work under Robert Koch at the Institute for Infectious Diseases in Berlin. He developed a complement fixation test for the diagnosis of syphilis. in 1906, just one year after the causative organism had been identified. This not only allowed for early detection of the disease, but prevention of transmission. The Wassermann test remains a staple of syphilis detection and prevention in some areas, although it has often been replaced by more modern alternatives. He died in 1925 at the age of 59.