Extracts from the bark of the weeping willow (Salix alba communis) have been used as an antipyretic for thousands of years. In 1763, a priest named Edmund Stone conducted the first clinical study on the antipyretic properties of willow bark. It was only later that the substance salicin was isolated from willow bark. This is converted to salicylic acid in the patient’s body and represents the actual active substance. It was H. Kolbe who developed a new and efficient method for synthesizing salicylic acid in 1860, making it affordable. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, salicylic acid was produced by adding an acetic acid residue to salicylic acid, which is an excellent painkiller and anti-inflammatory agent. According to a widespread legend from the Bayer company, both the idea and the research that led to aspirin came from a single man, Felix Hoffman. This is a story that has been told over and over again for several decades after the discovery of aspirin and is still told today. Various textbooks on medicine, biochemistry, biology, and chemistry repeatedly mention Felix Hoffmann. However, one name is missing from this story: Dr. Arthur Eichengrün, chemist. This exciting story, the mechanism of action, and other possible uses of aspirin are discussed.