Victor Villiger (1868-1934)

Swiss chemist, born in Cham (canton of Zug). He studied at the University of Geneva and obtained his doctorate in Munich under Adolf von Baeyer, with whom he worked for several years.

In 1899 Baeyer and Villiger reported that peracids insert an oxygen atom between the carbonyl and a neighboring carbon of ketones: the Baeyer-Villiger oxidation. Together they also studied organic peroxides and dyes. In 1905 Villiger moved to industry, at BASF in Ludwigshafen, where he worked until his death in 1934.