Sorting out just Who was Great Great Grandaddy

That is John Wesley Bayer (Goodsell in USA) circled on left, Frank Hoffmann in red who was treasurer for Pocahontas Tannery WVa and I assume our relative or teacher sitting at the table circled on right. He is teaching John because John has a wire in his hand and there are batteries on the table. The face of the teacher has been retouched to look like Dreser, if you look closely, a later employee, since there is a moldy bun on the table implying he was doing research on penicillin. That bun is much too big to be a poppy so the employee was not Dreser who worked with morphine.

Biographies of Chemists

Prepared by Peter Morris
Web presentation by Gerry Moss
(Johann Friedrich Wilhelm) Adolf [von] Baeyer (1835-1917). Born in Berlin, the son of a Prussian military surveyor who became a lieutenant-general. He studied chemistry at Heidelberg under Bunsen, then followed Kekulé to Ghent. he taught at the Gewerbeschule in Berlin before joining the newly Germanised University of Strassburg. Baeyer then succeeded Liebig at Munich where he remained for the rest of his career. He also acted as a consultant and research leader for Badische Anilin- & Soda-Fabrik. His major work was the structure and synthesis of indigo. He also discovered the phthalein dyes and synthesised oxonium compounds. His centric formula for benzene is well-known. Baeyer ennobled by Ludwig II in 1885, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1905 for his work on dyes and hydroaromatic compounds. His name is associated with the Baeyer-Drewson indigo synthesis from o-nitrobenzaldehyde, the Baeyer-Villiger oxidation of ketones to esters or lactones, the (discredited) Baeyer photosynthesis equation, the Baeyer strain theory of alicyclic compounds and the Baeyer test for olefins (decolourisation of glacial acetic acid and potassium permanganate).
Friedrich Bayer (originally Beyer) (1825-1880). Born in Barmen, the grandson of a weaver from Nördlingen. He served an apprenticeship as a chemical merchant, then set up his own business. Seeing the potential of the new synthetic dyes, he joined forces with a friend Friedrich Westkott and formed Friedrich Bayer & Cie in Barmen. Initially, the new firm had only one worker, but a chemist was soon hired. A new factory was built near Elberfeld in 1867. By the time of Bayer's death, his firm had become a major dye manufacturer.

Karl Josef Bayer (1847-1904). Born in Bielitz, Silesia, he initially trained as an architect (his father was an architect) before switching to the study of chemistry at Wiesbaden. After working in a steelworks, he took his doctorate under Bunsen at Heidelberg. After teaching briefly at the University of Brünn, he worked in various chemical factories in Russia. His name is associated with the Bayer process for the purification of bauxite.

Otto Bayer (1902-1982). Born in Frankfurt-on-the-Main, he studied chemistry at Frankfurt University, and after taking his doctorate, he was an assistant to von Braun. He then joined I.G. Farben's Mainkur factory, and he quickly became the leader of the main research laboratory at Leverkusen. He eventually joined the board of Bayer AG. His major achievement was the development of polyurethanes. Despite working for Bayer, He was not related to Friedrich Bayer (compare the similar situation of Alastair Pilkington and Pilkington Brothers).