WERNER, ALFRED (1866-1919), French-Swiss chemist, was born at Mulhouse on Dec. 12, 1866. In 1886 he went to Ziirich to study, and later worked at Zilrich with Lunge and in Paris with Berthelot, but returned in 1893 as extra-ordinary pro fessor of chemistry at Ziirich. In 1895 he was made ordinary professor of chemistry, an appointment he held until his death on Nov. 15, 1919. He was awarded the Nobel prize in 1913.
Werner's earliest work was with Hantzach on the stereochemis try of the oximes (q.v.), but his greatest contribution to chemistry was the co-ordination theory of Valency (q.v.), which he put forward in 1893. By means of this theory not only was a simple method of classifying complex inorganic compounds made avail able, but new and unsuspected cases of geometrical and optical isomerism were brought to light. (See ISOMERISM.) Although
Werner's views met with some opposition and had to be modified slightly they undoubtedly gave a great stimulus to the develop ment of certain branches of chemistry. Attempts are being made to bring the theory into line with the modern views on the struc ture of the atom. (See N. V. Sidgwick, The Electronic Theory of Valency, 1927.) Werner wrote Neuere Anschauungen auf dem Gebiet der anorgan Chemie; it has been translated into English. See obituary notice in Jour. Chem. Soc., p. 5639 (1920).