The German chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann (1818-1892) was one of the most influential organic chemists and teachers of the century.

August Wilhelm von Hofmann was born on April 8, 1818, in the small university town of Giessen. In 1836 he entered the University of Giessen, where he studied law, philosophy, and mathematics. However, in 1843 he turned to the study of chemistry. He received his doctorate summa cum laude with a thesis entitled Chemical Investigation of the Organic Bases in Coal Tar, a field in which he was destined to achieve worldwide fame.

In 1845, while holding a professorship at the University of Bonn, Hofmann derived analine from benzene and thus laid one of the foundations of the synthetic dye industry. He also worked out the problem of substituting atoms of chlorine for the hydrogen atoms of the aromatic compounds. This work won the coveted Gold Medal of the Parisian Societé...