A missed turning point for theory in organic chemistry: molecular orbitals at Montpellier in 1950

Michael Dewar's attempt to introduce physical organic chemists to molecular orbital ideas began with his book The Electronic Theory of Organic Chemistry (1949) and his lectures at the Montpellier Colloquium (1950). Influential members of the community resisted these efforts for a number of reasons, which included Dewar's inability to communicate his ideas to chemists in need of instruction and also a series of apparent errors in working out the experimental details of his mechanistic proposals.