Carlos Chagas (1879–1934) was a Brazilian sanitary physician,scientist and bacteriologist who worked as a clinician and researcher. He discovered Chagas disease, also called American trypanosomiasisin 1909, while working at the Oswaldo Cruz Institute in Rio de Janeiro. Chagas was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize, in 1913 and 1921, but never received the award. Chagas’ work is unique in the history of medicine, because he was the only researcher so far to describe completely a new infectious disease: its pathogen, vector (Triatominae), host, clinical manifestations and epidemiology.  To this day,every year, about 20000 people die of Chagas Disease in Latin American. Chagas was also the first to discover and illustrate the parasitic fungal genus Pneumocystis, later infamously to be linked to PCP (Pneumocystis pneumonia in AIDS victims).