For his Ph.D., Beilstein joined Friedrich Wöhler at the University of Göttingen, receiving his doctorate in February 1858, two days before his twentieth birthday.

In autumn of 1859, he accepted an invitation for a post of laboratory assistant at the University of Breslau offered to him by Carl Jacob Löwig, but soon changed it for Göttingen.

In Göttingen, Beilstein began to collect systematic notes on organic compounds which finally led to the production of his famous handbook published in Hamburg.

The Beilstein Online Database ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1990.

In 1881, Beilstein became a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a position associated with a good income, a private dwelling and a laboratory.

[2] Shortly after his election Beilstein left professorship for research, the compilation of his handbook and his favourite hobby, music.