The Brønsted–Lowry theory (also called proton theory of acids and bases) is an acid–base reaction theory which was developed independently in 1923 by physical chemists Johannes Nicolaus Brønsted (in Denmark) and Thomas Martin Lowry (in the United Kingdom). The basic concept of this theory is that when an acid and a base react with each other, the acid forms its conjugate base, and the base forms its conjugate acid by exchange of a proton (the hydrogen cation, or H+). This theory generalises the Arrhenius theory.