Alfred Werner's Role in the mid-20th Century Flourishing of American Inorganic Chemistry

Abstract

The development of organic and physical chemistry as specialist fields, during the middle and end of the 19th century respectively, left inorganic behind as a decidedly less highly regarded subfield of chemistry. Despite Alfred Werner's groundbreaking studies of coordination chemistry in the early 20th century, that inferior status remained in place – particularly in the US – until the 1950s, when the beginnings of a resurgence that eventually restored its parity with the other subfields can be clearly observed. This paper explores the extent to which Werner's heritage – both direct, in the form of academic descendants, and indirect – contributed to those advances.