Friedrich Wöhler

Friedrich Wöhler (1800-82), German educator and chemist, born in Eschersheim (now part of Frankfurt), and educated at the universities of Marburg and Heidelberg. While studying medicine at Heidelberg, he became interested in chemistry and went to Stockholm to study with the Swedish chemist Baron Jöns Jakob Berzelius. In 1836 he became professor of chemistry at the University of Göttingen.

A pioneer in the field of organic chemistry, Wöhler is famous for his synthesis of the organic compound urea; (see Chemistry, Organic). By this contribution he proved, contrary to scientific thinking of the time, that a product of the living processes of animals could be made in the laboratory from inorganic materials. Wöhler also conducted important research on uric acid and the oil of bitter almonds, in collaboration with the German chemist Baron Justus von Liebig, and isolated the chemical elements aluminum and beryllium. He discovered calcium carbide and prepared acetylene from it; he also developed the method for preparing phosphorus that is in common use today. He wrote a number of textbooks in organic and inorganic chemistry.