John C. Bailar, Jr.

Who was John C. Bailar, Jr.?

John Christian Bailar, Jr. was a professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his B.A. at the University of Colorado and his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan. At Illinois he developed an active research program on coordination chemistry, and he is referred to as the “Father of Coordination Chemistry in the United States,” since prior to his time, this area of chemistry received little attention in the U.S. The Bailar twist in coordination compounds is named after him. He helped found the book series Inorganic Syntheses and the journal Inorganic Chemistry. His work was widely recognized culminating in the award of the Priestley Medal from the American Chemical Society, an organization of which he was also president. He is the father of two sons, one of whom is John Christian Bailar.