Wöhler, Friedrich (1800–1882)

German chemist who in 1828 became the first person to synthesize an organic compound (urea) from an inorganic compound (ammonium cyanate). He also devised a method in 1827 that isolated the metals aluminium, beryllium, yttrium, and titanium from their ores.

Wöhler was born near Frankfurt-am-Main and studied at German universities and in Stockholm, Sweden, under Jöns Berzelius. He was professor at Göttingen from 1836.

Until Wöhler's landmark synthesis of urea there had been a basic misconception in scientific thinking that the chemical changes undergone by substances in living organisms were not governed by the same laws as inanimate substances.

Wöhler worked with German chemist Justus von Liebig on a number of important investigations. In 1830, they proved the polymerism of cyanates and fulminates; in 1837, they investigated uric acid and its derivatives.

Wöhler discovered quinone (cyclohexadiene-1,4-dione), hydroquinone or quinol (benzene-1,4-diol), and calcium carbide. He isolated boron and silicon.