Friedrich Konrad Beilstein (; 17 February 183818 October 1906), was a Russian chemist and founder of the famous Handbuch der organischen Chemie (Handbook of Organic Chemistry). The first edition of this work, published in 1881, covered 1,500 compounds in 2,200 pages. This handbook is now known as the Beilstein database.
Life
Beilstein was born in Saint Petersburg in a family of German descent. Although he mastered the Russian language, he was educated in a German school. At the age of 15, he left for Heidelberg University where he studied chemistry under the tuition of Robert Bunsen. After two years he moved to the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and became a pupil of Justus Liebig, but soon returned to Heidelberg University. There he acquired an interest and preference for organic chemistry, which became his major. For his Ph.D., Beilstein joined Friedrich Wöhler at the University of Göttingen, receiving his doctorate in February 1858, two days before his twentieth birthday. To increase his skill and experience he went to Paris to work with Adolphe Wurtz and Charles Friedel. In autumn of 1859, he accepted an invitation for a post of laboratory assistant at the University of Breslau offered to him by Carl Jacob Löwig, but soon changed it for the University of Göttingen. There, he became Privatdozent and lectured in organic chemistry. In 1865, he received the title of "Professor Extraordinarius" (i.e. assistant professor). In addition, he became editor of the journal the Zeitschrift für anorganische und allgemeine Chemie. Shortly after his election Beilstein left professorship for research, the compilation of his handbook and his favourite hobby, music. He was also very fond of travelling and spent several months each year in Europe. Beilstein remained a bachelor all his life, but adopted a daughter who was his companion in later years. He died suddenly, of apoplectic attack in 1906.