History of Lactic Acid
The History
Lactic acid was isolated for the first time by the Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1780 from sour milk. The name reflects the lact- combining form derived from the Latin word for milk. In 1808, Jöns Jacob Berzelius discovered that lactic acid (actually L-lactate) also is produced in muscles during exertion. Its structure was established by Johannes Wislicenus in 1873.
In 1856, Louis Pasteur discovered Lactobacillus and its role in the making of lactic acid. Lactic acid started to be produced commercially by the German pharmacy Boehringer Ingelheim in 1895. In 2006, global production of lactic acid reached 275,000 metric tons with an average annual growth of 10%.
Related Figures
Jöns Jacob Berzelius
Chemist
Baron Jöns Jacob Berzelius, named by himself and contemporary society as Jacob Berzelius, was a Swedish chemist. Berzelius is considered, along with Robert Boyle, John Dalton, and Antoine Lavoisier, to be one of the founders of modern chemistry.
Johannes Wislicenus
Chemist
Johannes Wislicenus (24 June 1835 – 5 December 1902) was a German chemist, most famous for his work in early stereochemistry.The son of the radical Protestant theologian Gustav Wislicenus, Johannes was born on 24 June 1835 in Kleineichstedt in Prussian Saxony, and entered Halle University in 1853.
Louis Pasteur
Biologist
Louis Pasteur (December 27, 1822 – September 28, 1895) was a French biologist, microbiologist and chemist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization.