Adolf von Baeyer

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This article is about the Nobel Prize winning German chemist, for the founder of the pharmaceutical company Bayer, please see: Friedrich Bayer

Adolf von Baeyer

Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer in 1905
Born	October 31, 1835 Berlin, Germany
Died	August 20, 1917 Starnberg, Germany
Residence	Germany
Nationality	German
Field	Chemist
Institution	University of Berlin Gewerbe-Akademie, Berlin University of Strassburg University of Munich
Alma mater	University of Berlin
Academic advisor	Robert Wilhelm Bunsen Friedrich August Kekulé
Notable students	Emil Fischer
Known for	Synthesis of indigo
Notable prizes	Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1905)

Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer (October 31, 1835 - August 20, 1917) was a German chemist who synthesized indigo, and was the 1905 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry ^[1]. Born in Berlin, he initially studied mathematics and physics at Berlin University before moving to Heidelberg to study chemistry with Robert Bunsen. There he worked primarily in August Kekulé's laboratory, earning his doctorate (from Berlin) in 1858. He became a lecturer at the Berlin Trade Academy in 1860, and a Professor at the University of Strassburg in 1871. In 1875 he succeeded Justus von Liebig as Chemistry Professor at the University of Munich.

Baeyer's chief achievements include the synthesis and description of the plant dye indigo, the discovery of the phthalein dyes, and the investigation of polyacetylenes, oxonium salts, nitroso compounds (1869) and uric acid derivatives (1860 and onwards) (including the discovery of barbituric acid (1864), the parent compound of the barbiturates). He was the first to propose the correct formula for indole in 1869, after publishing the first synthesis three years earlier. His contributions to theoretical chemistry include the 'strain' (Spannung) theory of triple bonds and strain theory in small carbon rings.

In 1872 he experimented with phenol and formaldehyde, almost preempting Leo Baekeland's later discovery of Bakelite.

In 1881 the Royal Society of London awarded Baeyer the Davy Medal for his work with indigo. In 1905 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "in recognition of his services in the advancement of organic chemistry and the chemical industry, through his work on organic dyes and hydroaromatic compounds".

[edit] External links

• Speech given by Professor A. Lindstedt, President of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, on December 10, 1905, upon Baeyer's receiving the Nobel Prize
• Biography by the Nobel Foundation
• von Baeyer biography

[edit] References

• ^  Adolf von Baeyer: Winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry 1905 Armin de Meijere Angewandte Chemie International Edition Volume 44, Issue 48 , Pages 7836 - 7840 2005 Abstract
• I. Asimov, Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology (2nd Ed.), Doubleday, 1982, p. 472
• J. R. Partington, A History of Chemistry, Macmillan, 1964, vol. 4, pp. 775-788
• A Biographical Dictionary of Scientists, Williams, T. I., Ed., Wiley, 1969, pp. 27-28
• Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1970-1990, vol. 1, pp. 389-391
• Great Chemists Farber, E., Ed., Interscience, 1961, pp. 733-747
• Nature 1917, 100, pp. 188-190
• J. Chem. Soc. Trans. 1923, 123, pp. 1520-1546
• Nature 1935, 136, pp. 669-670
• Mem. Lect. Chem. Soc. 1914-1932, 3, pp. 47-73
• J. Am. Chem. Soc. Proc., 1923, 45, pp. 51-54
• J. Chem. Ed. 1930, 7, pp. 1231-1248
• Chem. Ber. 1935, 68, pp. 175A-180A.
• Naturwiss. 1915, 3, pp. 559-582.
• Neue Deutsche Biographie, Duncker & Humblot, 1953-1990, vol. 1, pp. 534-537
• A. Baeyer, W. von Gesammelte, F. Vieweg & Sohn, 1905, pp. vii-xx
• Das Buch der Grossen Chemiker, Bugge, G., Ed., Verlag Chemie, 1930, vol. 2, pp. 321-335.