August 10th

On this day in 1897, Dr. Felix Hoffmann successfully created a chemically pure and stable form of acetylsalicylic acid. His handwritten laboratory notes—aspirin’s “birth certificate”—suggested: “Through its physical characteristics such as a sour taste without any corrosive effect, acetylsalicylic acid has an advantage over salicylic acid and will therefore be tested for its usability in this context.” His success was trademarked as Aspirin. It was a better pain reliever for his father’s rheumatoid arthritis than the salicylic acid previously used which had an unpleasant taste and side effects, such as stomach bleeding. Hoffmann had improved on the earlier work of French chemist Charles Frederic Gerhardt who derived acetylsalicylic acid from plants, though only in an impure, unstable form (1853).

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