Stanislao Cannizzaro in Italy. He is best known for his contribution to the then-existing debate over atoms, molecules, and atomic weights. He championed Amedeo Avogadro's notion that equal volumes of gas at the same pressure and temperature held equal numbers of molecules or atoms, and the notion that equal volumes of gas could be used to calculate atomic weights. In so doing, Cannizzaro provided a new understanding of chemistry. Stanislao Cannizzaro Stanislao Cannizzaro FRS (13 July 1826 – 10 May 1910) was an Italian chemist. He is remembered today largely for the Cannizzaro reaction and for his influential role in the atomic-weight
History of molecular theory Determining the Relative Masses of the Elementary Molecules of Bodies", he essentially states, i.e. according to Partington's "A Short History of Chemistry", that: Note that this quote is not a literal translation. Avogadro uses the name "molecule" for both atoms and molecules. Specifically, he uses the name "elementary molecule" when referring to atoms and to complicate the matter also speaks of "compound molecules" and "composite molecules". During his stay in Vercelli, Avogadro wrote a concise note ("memoria") in which he declared the hypothesis of what we now call Avogadro's law: "equal volumes of gases, at the same temperature and pressure,