The history and triumph of physical organic chemistry

The beginnings of physical organic chemistry can be traced back to the early 19th Century in the work of Michael Faraday, and this area of study gained great prominence with the discovery by Moses Gomberg of the triphenylmethyl radical in 1900. From that time, the field has continually grown in its capabilities and now is widely used for the understanding of organic and bioorganic chemistry, using both experimental and theoretical approaches. Some of the history of this development is described.