In the first quarter of the nineteenth century the experimental proof for the interdependence of the composition and properties of chemical compounds resulted in the theory that they are mutually related, so that like composition governs like properties, and conversely.

; Jespersen O. Leipzig. Energetische Grundlagen der Kulturwissenschaft (1st ed.

Ostwald Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff and Svante Arrhenius are usually credited with being the modern founders of the field of physical chemistry. He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1909 for his work on catalysis chemical equilibria and reaction velocities.