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.
Upamćen je po desetljećima dugom zalaganju za atomsku teoriju i za ideje o strukturi kemijskih spojeva, nasuprot mišljenjima skeptičara među kemičarima poput Marcellina Berthelota i Étiennea Henrija Sainte-Claire Devillea.