In 1888, the Austrian chemist Friedrich Reinitzer, working in the Institute of Plant Physiology at the University of Prague, discovered a strange phenomenon. Reinitzer was conducting experiments on a cholesterol based substance trying to figure out the correct formula and molecular weight of cholesterol. When he tried to precisely determine the melting point, which is an important indicator of the purity of a substance, he was struck by the fact that this substance seemed to have two melting points. At 145.5°C the solid crystal melted into a cloudy liquid which existed until 178.5°C where the cloudiness suddenly disappeared, giving way to a clear transparent liquid. At first Reinitzer thought that this might be a sign of impurities in the material, but further purification did not bring any changes to this behavior.