The discoveries of Friedrich Wöhler over the course of the 19th century have become one of the greatest influences on the theory of Chemistry. It was remarked that, "...for two or three of his researches he deserves the highest honor a scientific man can obtain, but the sum of his work is absolutely overwhelming. Had he never lived, the aspect of chemistry would be very different from that it is now." But do we truly know the man behind the science?

Friedrich Wöhler Wöhler was born July 31, 1800 in Eschersheim near Frankfurt am Main. In 1823, he finished his study of medicine in Heidelberg at the laboratory of Leopold Gmelin, whom after his graduation arranged for Friedrich to work under Jöns Jakob Berzelius in Stockholm. He taught chemistry from 1825 to 1831 at the Polytechnic School in Berlin and then from 1831 to 1836 he was stationed at the Higher Polytechnic School at Cassel. Finally, he became a Professor of Chemistry in the University of Göttingen, where he remained till his death in 1882.

Wöhler is regarded as one of the most influential pioneers in organic chemistry due to his (accidental) synthesizing of urea. Until 1828, it was believed that organic substances could only be formed under the influence of a transcendent "life force" within animals and plants. Friedrich proved with his artificial preparation of urea from inorganic materials that this theory was false. Due to his urea synthesis project, Wöhler became a professor of Chemistry at the age of 28. Two years later, in 1830, Wöhler published, jointly with Justus von Liebig, the results of research on cyanic acid along with the urea process. Jöns Berzelius, in his report to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, called it the most important of all researches in physics, chemistry, and mineralogy published in that year.