Henry A. Bent

Henry A. Bent was a professor of physical chemistry who studied molecular orbitals to develop atomic hybridization and valence bond theories. Bent's rule, which predicts the orbital hybridization of a central atom as a function of the electronegativities of the substituents attached to it, is named for him.
In thermodynamics he developed a global approach now known as "entropy analysis" for the entropy component of thermodynamic free energy in relation to the second [law of thermodynamics] and the spontaneity of various chemical processes.
Bent was also interested in the periodic laws of the elements and promoted the Alternative [periodic tables#Left-step periodic table |left-step periodic table] based on orbital-filling rules.