At Least 60 Years of Ferrocene: The Discovery and Rediscovery of the Sandwich Complexes

“Elusion, Confusion” could well be the title of the story of the discovery and re-discovery of the sandwich complexes, best represented by the accidentally found prototype ferrocene. The two most important competitors in this fiercely contested field, E. O. Fischer und G. Wilkinson, were reconciled (even in terms of dancing) only after they were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize. This keen competition in the 1950s contributed decisively to what R. S. Nyholm called the “Renaissance of Inorganic Chemistry”.