Charles Friedel was born on the 12^th of March 1832 in Strasbourg (France). In 1856, after studying in Strasburg, Friedel was appointed conservator of the mineralogical collections at the Superior National School of Mines. In 1871 he began to lecture at the École Normale and in 1876 became professor of mineralogy at the Sorbonne, but on the death of Wurtz in 1884 he exchanged that position for the chair of organic chemistry. He collaborated in efforts to form diamonds artificially, studied the pyroelectric properties of crystals, determined crystallographic constants, and did research on ketone and aldehyde compounds. In 1877 Friedel discovered the chemical process known as the Friedel-Crafts reaction.
 Friedel was the chief founder of Revue Générale de Chimie in 1899. Charles Friedel died on the 20^th of April 1899 in Montauban.