The son of the radical Protestant theologian Gustav Wislicenus,[1] Johannes was born on 24 June 1835 in Kleineichstedt (now part of Querfurt, Saxony-Anhalt) in Prussian Saxony, and entered University of Halle-Wittenberg in 1853.

For a brief time he acted as assistant to Harvard chemist Eben Horsford, and in 1855 was appointed lecturer at the Mechanics' Institute in New York.

Returning to Europe in 1856, he continued to study chemistry with Wilhelm Heinrich Heintz at the University of Halle.

[2] His work on the isomeric lactic acids from 1868 to 1872[3] resulted in the discovery of two substances with different physical properties but with an identical chemical structure.

He was the first to prepare cyclopentane in 1893[4] In 1898 Wislicenus was awarded the Davy Medal by the Royal Society of London.