The Dutch physical chemist Jacobus Hendricus Van't Hoff (1852-1911) pioneered in the development of stereochemistry.

Jacobus Hendricus Van't Hoff was born in Rotterdam on Aug. 30, 1852. He developed an early interest in science, and in spite of the opposition of his father, who was a medical doctor, he studied chemistry at a polytechnic school and then at the University of Leiden. From the Netherlands he journeyed to Germany and then to Paris for further study, finishing his doctorate at the University of Utrecht in 1874.

Just prior to the awarding of the degree, however, Van't Hoff published a surprising scientific paper on the optical activity of certain organic compounds. This phenomenon (stereochemistry) of organic compounds can be described briefly by reference to the two forms of tartaric acid. They are the same in chemical formula, but in solution one form rotates a beam of polarized light to the left, and...