As a science, organic chemistry is just over 200 years old.  The earliest distinction between organic and inorganic chemicals is attributed to the Swedish chemist Torbern Bergman in the late 1700's.  In the latter half of the 18th century the term inorganic meant the chemical was mineral in nature or that it was derived from the minerals found in soil, rocks, and water.  At this same time organic chemicals were classified as those coming from living organisms.  As a matter of fact, it was believed that in order to form an organic compound, there had to be the intervention of a "vital force" and that these syntheses could only take place in living organisms.  It wasn't until forty years after Bergman distinguished between inorganic and organic substrates that the first laboratory synthesis or an organic compound was recognized.  Michel Chevreul, a French scientist, was the first to classify the conversion of animal fat (lard) to soap as an organic synthesis.  In 1828, Friedrich Wöhler, a German chemist, found that he could form urea from the decomposition of ammonium cyanate:

NH₄+ NCO-  ----->  H₂N-C(O)-NH₂.

During the next twenty years other reactions were discovered, and by 1850, organic chemistry was a budding field.

    Today, organic chemistry is simply classified as the chemistry of the compounds of carbon.  The study of organic chemistry is central to our understanding of a number of modern problems such a insecticides, PCBs, aerosols, the ozone hole and the greenhouse effect.  Organic chemicals are found in the biomolecules of our bodies - DNA, RNA, enzymes, etc.  We also make use of organic chemicals to obtain the luxuries of life - medicine, clothing, housing, and fuels.  The principles of organic chemistry are used in many fields including:  medicine and the medical sciences, biochemistry, microbiology, agriculture, and the plastics and petroleum industry.