Friedrich Wohler
| Friedrich Wöhler | |
|---|---|
Friedrich Wöhler c. 1856, age 56
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| Born |
31 July 1800 Eschersheim, Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | 23 September 1882 (aged 82) Göttingen, German Empire |
| Nationality | German |
| Fields |
Organic chemistry Biochemistry |
| Institutions | Polytechnic School in Berlin Polytechnic School at Kassel University of Göttingen |
| Doctoral advisor |
Leopold Gmelin Jöns Jakob Berzelius |
| Doctoral students |
Heinrich Limpricht Rudolph Fittig Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe Georg Ludwig Carius Albert Niemann Vojtěch Šafařík Carl Schmidt Theodor Zincke |
| Other notable students |
Augustus Voelcker Wilhelm Kühne |
| Known for | Wöhler synthesis of urea |
| Notable awards | Copley Medal (1872) |
Friedrich Wöhler (31 July 1800 – 23 September 1882) was a German chemist, best known for his synthesis of urea, but also the first to isolate several chemical elements.
He was born in Eschersheim, which belonged to Hanau at the time but is nowadays a district of Frankfurt am Main. In 1823 Wöhler finished his study of medicine in Heidelberg at the laboratory of Leopold Gmelin, who arranged for him to work under Jöns Jakob Berzelius in , Sweden. He taught chemistry from 1826 to 1831 at the Polytechnic School in Berlin until 1839 when he was stationed at the Polytechnic School at Kassel. Afterwards, he became Ordinary Professor of Chemistry in the University of Göttingen, where he remained until his death in 1882. In 1834, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Wöhler is regarded as a pioneer in organic chemistry as a result of his (accidentally) synthesizing urea from ammonium cyanate in the Wöhler synthesis in 1828. This discovery has become celebrated as a refutation of vitalism, the hypothesis that living things are alive because of some special "vital force". However, contemporary accounts do not support that notion. This Wöhler Myth, as historian of science Peter J. Ramberg called it, originated from a popular history of chemistry published in 1931, which, "ignoring all pretense of historical accuracy, turned Wöhler into a crusader who made attempt after attempt to synthesize a natural product that would refute vitalism and lift the veil of ignorance, until 'one afternoon the miracle happened'". Nevertheless, it was the beginning of the end of one popular vitalist hypothesis, that of Jöns Jakob Berzelius that "organic" compounds could be made only by living things.
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