Charles Romley Alder Wright FCS, FRS (7 September 1844 – 25 June 1894) was an English lecturer in chemistry and physics at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, England.

[2] Alder Wright developed hundreds of new opiate compounds and was the first person to synthesize diamorphine (heroin), in 1874.

[7] In 1871, Wright was appointed as a lecturer in chemistry and physics researcher at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, England.

[9] Wright died from complications due to diabetes mellitus on 25 June 1894, at forty-nine years of age.

"[6] At the Annual General Meeting of March 27, 1895, President Henry Edward Armstrong of the Chemical Society of London lamented his loss: "We must especially regret the decease of one of these, Dr Alder Wright, at so early an age; men gifted with so much originality and versatility and with such extraordinary powers of work, are at all times rare, and we can ill afford to lose them.

[3][11] After Wright's death, Heinrich Dreser, a chemist at Bayer Laboratories, continued to test heroin.

[15] In addition to his researches in organic chemistry, Wright published works on numerous topics including soap,[1] photographic[6] and waterproof papers, canvas goods, insulating materials, disinfectants, metallurgy,[1] iron smelting, manganese dioxide, ternary alloys and chemical dynamics.