Albert Niemann

Albert Friedrich Emil Niemann (20 May 1834 – 19 January 1861) was a German chemist. In 1859 — about the same time as Paolo Mantegazza — he isolated cocaine, and he published his finding in 1860.

Life Niemann was born in Goslar, then in the Kingdom of Hanover, the son of a school principal. In 1849 he began an apprenticeship at the town hall pharmacy in Göttingen, where, starting in 1852, he was a Ph.D. student at the George August University.

Friedrich Wöhler, Ordinary Professor of Chemistry at Göttingen University, had coca leaves imported to Germany by Karl von Scherzer, a member of the Austrian Novara expedition, and he gave those leaves to Niemann, his graduate student, to analyze. In 1859, Niemann isolated cocaine from coca leaves and then developed an improved purification process.

Mustard gas During experiments with ethylene and sulfur dichloride in 1860, Niemann produced mustard gas. He was among the first to document its toxic effects, but he might have not been the first to synthesize it. In 1860 and almost in parallel to Niemann, Frederick Guthrie reported the same reaction as Niemann.

Death Niemann died on 19 January 1861 in his hometown Goslar, reportedly of "suppuration of the lung". Niemann worked with mustard gas since 1860 and exposure to it probably resulted in his death. After his death, his colleague Wilhelm Lossen continued his investigations, and identified the chemical formula of cocaine in 1862.