The German chemist Friedrich August Kekulé (1829-1896) was the founder of structural organic chemistry.

August Kekulé, later Kekulé von Stradonitz, was born on Sept. 7, 1829, in the city of Darmstadt. After studies in the local gymnasium, young August, obedient to his father's wishes, enrolled in the school of architecture at the University of Giessen. At school Kekulé demonstrated a great talent for mathematics and drawing. It was in chemistry, however, a discipline then grappling with the complexities of the structure of organic molecules, that Kekulé's mathematical bent, excellent memory, and sense of space made him an ideal student of baffling structural problems.

Supported by his affluent family, Kekulé was able to study in Paris, where he gained the friendship of the eminent chemist Charles Gerhardt, from whose theory of types he later evolved his own theory of valency. He also moved in...