John C. Bailar, Jr.

John Christian Bailar, Jr.
Born	(1904-05-27)May 27, 1904 Golden, Colorado
Died	Urbana, Illinois
Fields	Inorganic Chemistry
Alma mater	University of Michigan
Doctoral students	Fred Basolo
Other notable students	Basudeb DasSarma
Notable awards	Priestley Medal (1964)

John Christian Bailar, Jr. (May 27, 1904-October 17, 1991) 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 was the father of two sons, one of whom is John Christian Bailar.