From time to time in science, someone comes along whose original contributions are less significant than his or her ability to explain another's ideas. Such a person was Stanislao Cannizzaro. Cannizzaro was born in Palermo, Italy, on July 13, 1826, and died in Rome on May 10, 1910. He entered the University of Palermo as a medical student in 1841, but soon realized that the university could not provide the instruction in chemistry that he wanted and needed to learn. As a result, he moved to the University of Pisa, where he studied under the foremost Italian chemist of the day, Raffaele Piria.

In 1848, Cannizzaro's academic career was interrupted by political events. Revolutionaries in Sicily rose up against their master, the King of Naples and Cannizzaro joined the rebellion as an artillery officer and a member of the revolutionary government. When the rebellion failed in April 1849, he fled to France. Eventually, he took...