Landmarks of Human Thought I - Catalog - Page 22
Felix
Hoffmann
Aspirin
National Inventors Hall of Fame®
U.S. Patent No. 644,007
Inducted in 2002
Born Jan. 21, 1868 - Died Feb. 08, 1946
F
elix Hoffmann first made acetyl salicylic acid,
better known today as aspirin, to ease his
father's arthritis.
However, aspirin's history begins long before
Hoffmann's work with it while he was a chemist at
Bayer.
Hippocrates realized that juice from willow tree
bark killed pain. Scientists in the 19th century
realized it was the salicylic acid in the willow that
made the painkiller work, but it was hard on
stomachs and had to be buffered. In 1899,
Hoffmann rediscovered an old formula from a
French chemist, and he spent time on developing
and testing aspirin to promote its use.
More than a cure for headaches and minor pain,
aspirin has been clinically proven to work wonders
for many conditions. People at risk of heart attack
are advised to take an aspirin a day, and aspirin is
used to prevent and treat stroke. Aspirin is also
thought to be a potent drug for cancer, heart disease,
Alzheimer's, stroke, infertility, herpes, and
blindness.
Studies have shown that long-term aspirin taking
can reduce the risk of death from colon cancer by
over 40%. Today, over 70 million pounds of aspirin
are produced annually around the world, and
Americans consume more than 15 billion tablets per
year.
Felix Hoffmann was inducted into
the National Inventors Hall of Fame®
for this U.S. Patent No. 644,007.
Reference: National Inventors Hall of Fame (2024, 23. February)
Inductee: Felix Hoffmann Invented Aspirin.
NIHF. https://www.invent.org/inductees/felix-hoffmann
