Caffeine!

Today is the 225th birthday of Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge, who successfully isolated caffeine as the active ingredient in coffee beans.  Born in Hamburg in 1795, he went on to a successful career as a chemist, also isolating quinine (for the treatment of malaria), and developing a method for extracting sugar from beets.

If you, like most of us, started the morning with a cup of coffee, tea or an energy drink this morning and got that strong dose of caffeine that gets things moving – then thank Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge!