In the year of 1853, William Henry Perkin, a 16-year-old student at the Royal College of Chemistry in London, began studying under August Wilhelm von Hofmann. Hofmann and Perkin were both attempting to find a way to synthesize quinine for treating malaria. But while Perkin was interested in the pursuit of quinine, he was more interested in photography and colors in the chemical world. It was this love that led him to discover the first aniline dye: mauveine.
