Complex sentence: The French chemist Robert Lepetit was the first to discover the reaction in 1898 but it was the German chemist Hans Theodor Bucherer (1869--1949) who discovered (independent from Lepetit) its reversibility and its potential especially in industrial chemistry.
Split into simpler sentences: The French chemist Robert Lepetit was the first to discover the reaction in 1898. The German chemist Hans Theodor Bucherer (1869--1949) discovered (independent from Lepetit) its reversibility and its potential especially in industrial chemistry.