Oral history interview with William John Bailey
- 1986-Jun-03
Oral history interview with William John Bailey
- 1986-Jun-03
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.The interview begins with William Bailey describing his upbringing in rural Minnesota, where his family operated a small lumber business. An outstanding high school teacher sparked Bailey's interest in science, and he focused on chemistry during his undergraduate studies at the University of Minnesota, where Lee Irving Smith was a major influence. Smith was largely responsible for Bailey's move to Illinois for graduate work with C. S. "Speed" Marvel and subsequent research on polymer synthesis. After a year at MIT as postdoctoral assistant to Cope, Bailey began his teaching career at Wayne State University, where he undertook his noted combination of organic and polymer chemistry. Five years after going to Detroit, Bailey accepted a research professorship at the University of Maryland, where he spent the rest of his career. The interview concludes with an account of Bailey's long involvement with the American Chemical Society, including his presidency in 1975 and his thoughts on the current image of chemistry.
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About the Interviewer
James J. Bohning was professor emeritus of chemistry at Wilkes University, where he had been a faculty member from 1959 to 1990. He served there as chemistry department chair from 1970 to 1986 and environmental science department chair from 1987 to 1990. Bohning was chair of the American Chemical Society’s Division of the History of Chemistry in 1986; he received the division’s Outstanding Paper Award in 1989 and presented more than forty papers at national meetings of the society. Bohning was on the advisory committee of the society’s National Historic Chemical Landmarks Program from its inception in 1992 through 2001 and is currently a consultant to the committee. He developed the oral history program of the Chemical Heritage Foundation, and he was CHF’s director of oral history from 1990 to 1995. From 1995 to 1998, Bohning was a science writer for the News Service group of the American Chemical Society. In May 2005, he received the Joseph Priestley Service Award from the Susquehanna Valley Section of the American Chemical Society. Bohning passed away in September 2011.
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| Oral history number | 0012 |
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Interviewee biographical information
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Education
| Year | Institution | Degree | Discipline |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1943 | University of Minnesota | B.Chem | |
| 1946 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | PhD |
Professional Experience
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- 1946 to 1947 Arthur D. Little Postdoctoral Fellow
Wayne State University
- 1947 to 1949 Assistant Professor of Chemistry
- 1949 to 1951 Associate Professor of Chemistry
University of Maryland, College Park
- 1951 to 1989 Research Professor
Honors
| Year(s) | Award |
|---|---|
| 1955 | Fatty Acid Producers Research Award |
| 1968 | Service Award, Washington Section, American Chemical Society |
| 1970 | Welch Foundation Lecturer |
| 1971 | Research Award, Gulf Oil Foundation |
| 1975 | Honor Scroll, District of Columbia Chapter, American Institute of Chemists |
| 1975 | President, American Chemical Society |
| 1976 | Outstanding Achievement Award, University of Minnesota |
| 1976 | Rauscher Memorial Lecturer, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute |
| 1977 | Polymer Chemistry Award, American Chemical Society |
| 1979 | Scientific Achievement Award, University of Maryland Chapter, Sigma Xi |
| 1983 | Gossett Award Lecturer, North Carolina State University |
| 1984 | Mobay Award Lecturer, College of Charleston |
| 1984 | Hillebrand Prize, Chemical Society of Washington |
| 1986 | Applied Polymer Science Award, American Chemical Society |
| 1988 | Henry Hill Award, American Chemical Society |
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Complete transcript of interview
The published version of the transcript may diverge from the interview audio due to edits to the transcript made by staff of the Center for Oral History, often at the request of the interviewee, during the transcript review process.