Josef von Mering
(1849 - 1908)

Strasbourg Professor of Medicine Josef von Mering and Berlin Professor Emil Fischer synthesised diethyl barbituric acid (barbitone) in 1902. It was introduced in 1903 as a sedative and hypnotic under the trade name Veronal. Intravenous barbiturates used as fast-acting induction agents for general anaesthesia were first introduced in the 1930s.