Weak-ball metrizability requires a norm-separable dual ($B_E\text{ weakly metrizable}⟺E^{\prime }\text{ norm separable}$)

If the relative weak topology on the unit ball of a normed vector space is first countable at zero, choose a countable collection of finite families of continuous linear functionals defining a local base. For any $f\in E^{\prime }$ and $ϵ>0$, one family $F$ has common kernel $M$ on which $\Vert f{|}_M\Vert \le ϵ$. Extend that restriction to $h\in E^{\prime }$ with $\Vert h\Vert \le ϵ$ using the Hahn-Banach theorem. Then $f-h$ vanishes on $M$, so it belongs to $\mathrm{span}F$ by finite-dimensional factorization. Consequently the countable union of these families has norm-dense linear span in $E^{\prime }$. The converse is the metrization of the weak topology on a bounded set construction from a norm-dense sequence in $E^{\prime }$. In particular, separability of $E$ alone does not suffice: ${\ell }^1$ has nonseparable dual ${\ell }^{\infty }$.