Baeyer was born inBerlin as the son of the notedgeodesist and captain of the Royal Prussian ArmyJohann Jacob Baeyer and his wife Eugenie Baeyer née Hitzig (1807–1843).[4] Both his parents wereLutherans at the time of his birth and he was raised in the Lutheran religion.[5] His mother was the daughter ofJulius Eduard Hitzig and a member of the originallyJewishItzig family, and had converted to Christianity before marrying his father, who was of non-Jewish German descent.[6] Baeyer had four sisters: Clara (born 1826) Emma (born 1831), Johanna (Jeanette) (born 1839), Adelaide (died 1843) and two brothers: Georg (born 1829) and Edward (born 1832). Baeyer lost his mother at a young age while she was giving birth to his sister Adelaide.[7]
Although his birth name was Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf Baeyer, he was known simply as Adolf throughout most of his life. The poetAdelbert von Chamisso and the astronomerFriedrich Wilhelm Bessel were his godparents. On his 50th birthday he was raised to the hereditary nobility by KingLudwig II of Bavaria, conferring on him the "von" distinction.[8]
Baeyer became interested in science early, performing experiments on plant nutrition at his paternal grandfather's Müggelsheim farm as a boy. In Berlin he began chemical experimentation at the age of nine. Three years later, he synthesized a previously unknown chemical compound -double carbonate of copper and sodium.[8][9] On his 13th birthday, he initiated his lifework, buying a chunk of indigo worth twoThalers for his first dye experiments.[8]
When a schoolboy, his chemistry teacher at theFriedrich Wilhelm Gymnasium appointed him as his assistant. After graduating from secondary school in 1853, he entered theBerlin University to studyphysics and mathematics. A stint in the Prussian army interrupted his study until 1856, when he returned to academia at theUniversity of Heidelberg, intending to studychemistry underRobert Bunsen.[citation needed] After an argument with the renowned chemist he changed his mentor toAugust Kekulé. He continued to collaborate with Kekulé even after he returned to Berlin in 1858 for the completion of his doctorate on arsenic methyl chloride, orcacodylic chloride.[8]
In 1881 theRoyal Society of London awarded Baeyer theDavy Medal for his work with indigo. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1884.[13] In 1905 he was awarded theNobel Prize in Chemistry "in recognition of his services in the advancement of organic chemistry and the chemical industry, through his work on organic dyes and hydroaromatic compounds", and he continued in full active work as one of the best-known teachers in the world of organic chemistry up to within a year of his death.[14]
In 1868, Baeyer married Adelheid (Lida) Bendemann, the daughter of a family friend, and together the couple had three children: Eugenie, Hans, andOtto [de].[8]
He died on 20 August 1917 inStarnberg at the age of 81.
^During the Nazi period, Baeyer's Jewish ancestry caused difficulties for his grandsons, who were compelled to emigrate to Canada and the United States.
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