Aspirin is traditionally credited to Felix Hoffmann, a chemist at Bayer, who synthesized acetylsalicylic acid in 1897 and helped bring the drug to market as Aspirin in 1899. However, historical scholarship increasingly views aspirin as the result of broader collaborative work, with earlier researchers investigating salicylates and Hoffmann’s synthesis being one piece of a longer, multi-party effort. Some scholars and later claims have argued that Arthur Eichengrün, a Bayer colleague, played a pivotal role in the development of a pure acetylsalicylic acid product, challenging the sole-credit narrative for Hoffmann. The broader history also traces aspirin’s roots back to ancient times, with willow bark and salicylates used for pain and fever long before modern chemistry identified and refined the compound.