Richard William Frederick Bader (October 15, 1931 - January 15, 2012), in Kitchener, Ont. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1980[1] and he was also a fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada[1]. Bader has received the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship[1]. In 2011, he was one of the nominees for the Nobel Price in Chemistry[1]. Over his long career, he published 223 refereed articles and book chapters about chemistry and physics[1]. Bader's work has been cited more than 26,000 times[1].
Richard Bader was born in a farmer family. His parents were Albert Bader and Alvina Bader, who immigrated from Switzerland. [2] His father was a butcher at Burns Pride of Canada and his mother was a housekeeper at Kitchener Hospital of Waterloo. As a teenager, he worked summers at a slaughterhouse where he removed the toenails from dead pigs[2]. He received a scholarship from McMaster University[2] that allowed him to earn a BSC in 1953. He finished his Master's degree in science there in 1955. His father was his best supporter who encouraged him and taught him to "never quit" his education and his dream.[3]
Bader married Pamela Kozenof, a nurse from New Zealand[2] in 1958. They had three daughters Caralyn, Kimberly and Suzanna.[1] He had one grandson is Alexander.[1]
Richard Bader discovered that electron density is very important in explaining the behavior of atoms in the molecules.[3] According to his theory, there are no atomic orbitals in the molecules. This was a new idea and went against accepted theories. He fought hard for his revolutionary ideas and found it difficult to publish.[3] In the end, he theories became more accepted and published a book Atoms in Molecules, a Quantum theory in 1991.[4] Bader said: 'We had a lot of deep discussions, and it started to occur to me that chemistry was in a real bind because we had this very powerful molecular structure hypothesis that came from the cauldron of experimental physics. But everyone had their own dictionary - different people had a different idea of what a bond was. We were trying to do science with everyone using their own private dictionary. I decided that when I left, I would make it my goal to find the physical basis of chemistry.' [4] Bader helped create the widely used software program, AIMPAC, that predicts the property of molecules based on the atoms in that molecule.[4]
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Richard Bader, FCIC | The Chemical Institute of Canada". www.cheminst.ca. Retrieved 2016-11-09.
- ^ a b c d "globeandmail.com: Scientist had the proof his thinking was correct". v1.theglobeandmail.com. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
- ^ a b c "Mr. Bontront's Grade 12 Chemistry Wiki / Richard Bader". jeanbont.pbworks.com. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
- ^ a b c "Speaking out to a wall of silence | Scientific Computing World". www.scientific-computing.com. Retrieved 2016-11-30.