text: Werner Urland (born 13 April 1944) is a German chemist whose name is imprinted in the pioneering implementation of the Angular Overlap Model (AOM: a specific paradigm for accounting metal ions in complexes or crystals ) for the interpretation of optical and magnetic properties of rare-earth coordination compounds. This approach receives a renewed value in the context of the vogue around the lanthanide-based new materials, such as achieving magnets at molecular scale,  or designing new phosphor materials.