1918-

German inorganic chemist who discovered a new kind of chemical bond between metals and organic molecules and founder of organometallic chemistry. Using x-ray crystallographic methods, he showed that ferrocene is made up of an iron atom sandwiched between two five-membered carbon rings (cyclopentadienes). He subsequently investigated the molecular structure and properties of other organometallic compounds, especially those formed by various metals with cyclic organic molecules. He shared the Nobel Prize for chemistry with Geoffrey Wilkinson in 1973.