[1][2][3] Sertürner was born, the fourth of six children, to Joseph Simon Serdinier and Marie Therese Brockmann on 19 June 1783, in Neuhaus, Holy Roman Empire (now part of Paderborn).

He however got his brother-in-law Heinrich Karl Daniel Bolstorff to take over his pharmacy and move to Hamelin where he worked as Ratsapotheke succeeding Johann Friedrich Westrumb (1751-1819).

[5] During his efforts to isolate morphine from opium between 1804 and 1816, Sertürner relied on animal and human testing to evaluate the results of his work.

[4] His 1806 paper describes a highly impure alcoholic extract of opium that was tested on a mouse and three dogs, one of which died as a result.

He dissolved the crystals in alcohol and tested the effects of this solution by swallowing it together with 3 boys, “none older than seventeen years.” He administered it gradually, in three doses of half-grains.

He was not fully conscious while responding to the situation:[9] It presented as pain in the region of the stomach, exhaustion, and severe narcosis that came close to fainting.

Being in the supine position, I fell into a dream-like state and sensed in the extremities, particularly the arms, a slight twitching which accompanied the pulse beats.

These distinct symptoms of true intoxication, particularly the frail condition of the three young men, caused me so much concern that I, half unconscious, drank more than a quarter of a bottle (6 to 8 ounces) of strong vinegar and also had the others do the same.Sertürner hypothesized that, because lower doses of the drug were needed, it would be less addictive.

However, he became addicted to the drug, warning that "I consider it my duty to attract attention to the terrible effects of this new substance I called morphium in order that calamity may be averted.

[2] The degree was initiated by Goethe who also had Sertürner inducted into the Jenaer Societät für die gesammte Mineralogie as an honorary member.