Adolf Ritter von Baeyer was born on October 31, 1835, in Berlin. His interest in chemistry began at the early age of nine, when his father gave him a copy of Stöckhardt's Schule der Chemie. Subsequently he studied under Bunsen at Heidelberg, and also under Kekulé, whom he followed to Ghent, and whom he always considered to be his real teacher. In I860 he returned to Berlin, and became Privatdozenten at that University. From this day onwards he published numerous papers. After three years spent in Strassburg as Professor of Chemistry he finally settled at Munich, where most of his chemical researches reached maturity. The influence Baeyer exerted in the development of chemical science, and especially of organic chemistry, was greater probably than that of any other single man, for almost every professor of chemistry now in Germany passed through his laboratories at Munich and received a stimulus there from the enthusiastic head.