The New International Encyclopædia/Kekule von Stradonitz, Friedrich August

KEKULE VON STRADONITZ, kā'kōō-lā' fṓn strä'dṓ-nīts, Friedrich August (1829-96). A German chemist, born at Darmstadt. In 1856 he became privat-docent at Heidelberg, and in 1858 professor of chemistry at Ghent. Seven years later he entered the professorate of chemistry at Bonn, where he worked till his death. His work was in organic chemistry; especially important are: his theory of the quadrivalency of carbon; his hexagonal formula for the atom of benzine; the hypotheses of the open and ‘closed chains’; and, in general, his extension of the doctrine of types. Of his writings some of the more important are: Lehrbuch der organischen Chemie (1861-67) and Chemie der Benzolderivate und der aromatischen Substanzen (1867-80).