Friedrich Wöhler

Friedrich Woehler

1800 (Eschersheim, Germany) – 1882 (Göttingen)

Wöhler studied with Gmelin, and then, wanting the best education possible, with Berzelius, who became a lifelong friend; he later translated Berzelius’ work into German. He collaborated extensively with his great friend Liebig, though they initially spent two years challenging each other’s work. Ørsted told Wöhler about his isolation of aluminium, but Wöhler built on his research and took most of the credit. He met Sainte-Claire Deville through contesting discovery of the aluminium-production process, but they also went on to collaborate industrially (Wöhler acting as consultant) and became good friends.