约翰·彭伯顿1831—1888

“可乐”的发明者

约翰·彭伯顿曾是南北战争时期南方邦联军队的一位军官和军医。他在南北战争时受了伤，治疗时过度使用吗啡止痛而导致成瘾，这种现象当时十分普遍。这促使他决心研制吗啡的替代药品。当时，在美国许多医师和药师中流行配制和销售“药剂饮料”，通常使用药物成分、天然成分和碳酸水进行配制，被认为兼具药物和饮料双重用途。彭伯顿利用古柯树叶和可乐果的药理特性配制出一种据说具有止痛效果的、口味独特的“药剂饮料”；1885年他将发明的“药剂饮料”配方称为Pemberton's French Wine Coca，名字中的Wine和Coca表明其中含有酒精和古柯叶。后来，由于佐治亚州的亚特兰大和富尔敦（Fulton County）发出禁酒令，彭伯顿在他的配方中以糖浆取代酒精。后来，由于软饮料市场不断发展，彭伯顿的助理约翰·詹姆斯建议彭伯顿以他的配方为基础开发出一种新型软饮料，这份配方催生了一个全新的饮料品类，即“可乐”，可口可乐公司的前身随之诞生。1886年，第一份可乐在亚特兰大的药房首卖，售价为5美分。开张的第一年，公司仅售出400瓶可口可乐。1887年，彭伯顿将一部分股权卖给合作伙伴阿萨·坎德勒，并于1889年完成全数转让，退出公司。其后，坎德勒在亚特兰大以此为基础成立可口可乐公司。

John Stith Pemberton (July 8, 1831 – August 16, 1888) was an American pharmacist, chemist, and Confederate States Army officer who is best known as the inventor of Coca-Cola. On May 8, 1886, he developed an early version of a beverage that would later become Coca-Cola, but sold the rights to Asa Griggs Candler for roughly $2300 (equivalent to $82,417 in 2025) shortly before his death in 1888.

Pemberton suffered from a sabre wound sustained in April 1865, during the Battle of Columbus. His efforts to control his chronic pain led to morphine addiction. In an attempt to curb his addiction he began to experiment with various painkillers and toxins. The development of an earlier beverage blending alcohol and cocaine led to the recipe that later was adapted to make Coca-Cola.

Background

Pemberton was born on July 8, 1831, in Knoxville, Georgia, and spent most of his childhood in Rome, Georgia. His parents were James C. Pemberton and Martha L. Gant.

Pemberton entered the Reform Medical College of Georgia in Macon, Georgia, and in 1850, at the age of nineteen, he earned his medical degree. His main talent was chemistry. After initially practicing some medicine and surgery, Pemberton opened a drug store in Columbus.

During the American Civil War, Pemberton served in the Third Cavalry Battalion of the Georgia State Guard, which was at that time a component of the Confederate Army. He achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Personal life

Pemberton met Ann Eliza Clifford Lewis of Columbus, Georgia, known to her friends as "Cliff", who had been a student at Wesleyan College in Macon. They were married in Columbus in 1853. Their only child, Charles Nay Pemberton, was born in 1854.

They lived in a Victorian cottage, the Pemberton House in Columbus, a home of historic significance which was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 28, 1971.

Founding Coca-Cola

In April 1865, Pemberton sustained a sabre wound to the chest during the Battle of Columbus. He soon became addicted to the morphine used to ease his pain.

In 1866, seeking a cure for his addiction, he began to experiment with painkillers that would serve as morphine-free alternatives. His first recipe was "Dr. Tuggle's Compound Syrup of Globe Flower", in which the active ingredient was derived from the buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), a toxic plant. He next began experimenting with coca and coca wines, eventually creating a recipe that contained extracts of kola nut and damiana, which he called Pemberton's French Wine Coca.

According to Coca-Cola historian Phil Mooney, Pemberton's world-famous soda was created in Columbus, Georgia, and carried to Atlanta. With public concern about drug addiction, depression, and alcoholism among war veterans, and "neurasthenia" among "highly-strung" Southern women, Pemberton's "medicine" was advertised as particularly beneficial for "ladies, and all those whose sedentary employment causes nervous prostration".

In 1886, when Atlanta and Fulton County enacted temperance legislation, Pemberton had to produce a non-alcoholic alternative to his French Wine Coca. Pemberton relied on Atlanta drugstore owner-proprietor Willis E. Venable to test, and help him perfect, the recipe for the beverage, which he formulated by trial and error.

Sale of Coca-Cola

Soon after Coca-Cola was launched, Pemberton fell ill and was nearly bankrupt. Sick and desperate, he began selling rights to his formula to his business partners in Atlanta. Part of his motivation to sell was that he still suffered from his expensive ongoing morphine addiction. Pemberton had a hunch that his formula "someday will be a national drink," so he attempted to retain a share of the ownership to leave to his son. However, Pemberton's son wanted the money, so in 1888, Pemberton and his son sold the remaining portion of the patent to a fellow Atlanta pharmacist, Asa Griggs Candler, for $300 (USD), which in 2026 purchasing power is equal to $10,545.85 (USD).

Death

Pemberton died from stomach cancer at the age of 57 on 16 August 1888. At the time of his death, he was poor and had become increasingly addicted to morphine. His body was returned to Columbus, Georgia, where he was buried at Linwood Cemetery. His grave marker is engraved with symbols showing his service in the Confederate Army and his membership as a Freemason. His son Charles continued to sell his father's formula, but six years later Charles Pemberton himself died, having succumbed to opium addiction.