Career
He was the first person to isolate the cocaine alkaloid which happened in 1855. Gaedcke named the alkaloid “erythroxyline,” and published a description in the journal Archiv der Pharmazie. Gaedcke worked in a pharmacy in Rostock and studied in Rostock between 1850 and 1851.
In 1856, he took over a pharmacy in Dömitz which he ran for 34 years.