Early Life
Born in Darmstadt in 1829, Kekulé first studied architecture at the University of Giessen, which gave him a strong spatial imagination. Inspired by Justus von Liebig's lectures, he switched to chemistry. He worked in Paris, Switzerland and London, where he met chemists such as Williamson and Odling who influenced his thinking about how atoms link together. He later became professor in Ghent and then Bonn.
Major Discoveries
- 01Carbon is tetravalent — forms four bonds (1857)
- 02Carbon atoms can bond to each other to form chains (1858)
- 03Ring structure of benzene (1865)
- 04Proposed alternating single and double bonds in benzene with oscillation
- 05Helped found structural theory in organic chemistry
Famous Experiments
- 01Studied derivatives of benzene to explain why only one monosubstituted form exists
- 02Synthesised thioacetic acid and studied its properties
- 03Worked on unsaturated acids such as fumaric and maleic acid
Awards & Honors
- 01Copley Medal of the Royal Society (1885)
- 02Ennobled as 'von Stradonitz' in 1895
- 03Foreign Member of the Royal Society
Legacy
Kekulé's structural ideas made it possible to draw and predict organic molecules, the basis of the dye, drug and plastics industries. Three of the first five Nobel Prizes in Chemistry went to his students.
Fun Facts
- 01He said the benzene ring came to him in a daydream of a snake biting its tail
- 02He also dreamed of dancing atoms on a London bus
- 03He was a witness in a murder trial as a student, which drew him toward chemistry
- 04His architecture training helped him visualise molecules in 3D