Adolf von Baeyer

Born in Berlin in 1835, Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer spent his career dismantling the mysteries of organic chemistry. His synthesis of indigo proved that even ancient natural compounds could be recreated from scratch, a breakthrough that reshaped both science and industry. He also developed a system for naming cyclic compounds, groundwork later woven into the standard nomenclature chemists still use. Bavaria ennobled him in 1885. Twenty years later, in 1905, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He died in Starnberg in 1917.