death_date death_place birth_place awards image_size nationality field birth_date known_for image article_title name
10 may 1884 paris , france wolfisheim , near strasbourg , france copley medal -lrb- 1881 -rrb- 240px france chemistry 26 november 1817 wurtz reaction charles-adolphe wurtz.jpg charles-adolphe wurtz
 charles-adolphe wurtz
charles-adolphe wurtz

charles adolphe wurtz -lrb- 26 november 1817 -- 10 may 1884 -rrb- was an alsatian french chemist .
he is best remembered for his decades-long advocacy for the atomic theory and for ideas about the structures of chemical compounds , against the skeptical opinions of chemists such as marcellin berthelot and etienne henri sainte-claire deville .
he is well known by organic chemists for the wurtz reaction , to form carbon-carbon bonds by reacting alkyl halides with sodium , and for his discoveries of ethylamine , ethylene glycol , and the aldol reaction .
wurtz was also an influential writer and educator .
