Wohler was a twenty-eight-year-old chemist and medical scholar. He accidentally produced
the organic compound urea while experimenting with certain inorganic compounds. Urea is found
in the urine of most animals. His findings demonstrated that a compound thought to be created
only by living organisms could be artificially synthesized in a laboratory. The theory was therefore
disproved that an undefined “life force" was needed for the production of organic matter.