What is Friedrich August Kekulé von Stradonitz?
'''Friedrich August Kekule von Stradonitz''' (also August Kekulé) (7 September 1829 – 13 July 1896) was a [[Germany|German]] [[Organic chemistry|organic]] [[chemist]]. Kekulé was born in [[Darmstadt]], the son of a [[civil servant]]. After graduating from secondary school, in 1847 he entered the [[University of Giessen]], with the intention of studying [[architecture]]. After hearing the lectures of [[Justus von Liebig]] he decided to study chemistry. Following his education in [[Giessen]], he took further [[doctorate]] fellowships in [[Paris]] (1851-52), in [[Chur]], [[Switzerland]] (1852-53), and in [[London]] (1853-55), where he was decisively influenced by [[Alexander Williamson]]. In 1858, he was hired as a full professor at the [[University of Ghent]]. In 1867, he was asked to work at the [[University of Bonn]]. There he studied [[carbon]] [[organic compounds]] and [[benzene]]. He suggested a benzene ring structure. Kekulé's most famous work was on the structure of benzene. In 1865 Kekulé published a paper in [[French language|French]] suggesting that the structure contained a six-membered ring of carbon [[atom]]s with alternating single and double bonds. The next year he published a much longer paper in German on the same subject. The empirical formula for benzene had been long known, but its highly unsaturated structure was challenging to determine. [[Archibald Scott Couper]] in 1858 and [[Joseph Loschmidt]] in 1861 suggested possible structures that contained multiple double bonds or multiple rings, but the study of [[aromatic compounds]] was in its earliest years, and too little evidence was then available to help chemists decide on any particular structure. {{bio-stub}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Stradonitz, Friedrich August Kekulé von}} [[Category:1829 births]] [[Category:1896 deaths]] [[Category:German chemists]] [[Category:Scientists from Darmstadt]] [[Category:Academics of the University of Bonn]]