Bahattin Baysal was born in Kırşehir in 1922. He completed his high school education at Izmir High School in 1939 and his undergraduate education in physics-chemistry at Istanbul University Faculty of Science in 1945. Between 1946 and 1949, Prof. Dr. He continued his doctoral studies in the field of chemical kinetics at the Physical Chemistry Institute of Ankara University, Faculty of Science, alongside A. G. Parts. After graduating from the Higher Teacher Training School, he started working as an assistant at Ankara University Faculty of Science in 1945. In 1952, he became an Associate Professor at The Polytechnic University of New York with his thesis on the kinetics of polymerization reactions. After his military service, he was appointed to AÜ Faculty of Science as an Associate Professor of Physical Chemistry in 1954. While serving in the same position, he went to America to conduct research in the field of atomic energy and worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brookhaven National Laboratory between 1957 and 1959. He became Professor of Physical Chemistry at METU in 1960, Head of the Chemistry Department between 1960-1964, and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences between 1966-1970. He worked on the electrical properties of polymer materials at Dartmouth College in 1964 and 1965, and on copolymer and rubber syntheses at Princeton University in 1970 and 1971. He was especially known for his work on reaction kinetics, chemistry and physicochemistry of polymer substances, copolymer syntheses, ion exchange and solid state chemistry. 117 research articles were published in international journals in the field of polymer chemistry and polymer technology, which he pioneered in Turkey. He received the TÜBİTAK Science Award in 1968 and was elected as a TÜBA Member in 1995. After his retirement, he continued his studies at Boğaziçi University and TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center.
