German educator and chemist, born in Eschersheim (now part of Frankfurt-on-Main), 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 Jons Jakob Berzelius. In 1836 he became Professor of Chemistry at the University of Gِttingen.
A pioneer in the field of organic chemistry, Wohler is famous for his synthesis of the organic compound urea. 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. Wohler 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 aluminium 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 on organic and inorganic chemistry.
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