Friedrich August Kekulé von Stradonitz

Kekulé von Stradonitz, Friedrich August (1829–96), German chemist regarded as the father of modern organic chemistry. At the same time as Archibald Scott Couper (1831–82) he recognized the quadrivalency of carbon and its ability to form long chains. With his later inference of the molecular structure of benzene as a ring, structural organic chemistry was born.

See also: Chemistry; Organic chemistry.