Wöhler, Friedrich, << WUR luhr or VUR luhr, FREE drihk >> (1800-1882), a German chemist, in 1828 became the first person to make an organic substance (in this case urea) from inorganic chemicals. Organic substances consist primarily of carbon atoms linked together in chains or rings. Wöhler’s experiments helped disprove the belief that organic substances could be formed only in the living bodies of animals or plants.
Wöhler isolated the element beryllium, and was one of the first people to isolate and describe the properties of aluminum (see Aluminum (The first aluminum) ). Wöhler’s studies with German chemist Justus von Liebig on benzoyl compounds played a major role in the development of organic chemistry. Wöhler was born on July 31, 1800, in Frankfurt (am Main), Germany. He died on Sept. 23, 1882.
