Richard F. W. Bader FRSC FCIC (October 15, 1931 – January 15, 2012) was a Canadian quantum chemist, noted for his work on the Atoms in molecules theory.

This theory attempts to establish a physical basis for many of the working concepts of chemistry, such as atoms in molecules and bonding, in terms of the topology of the electron density function in three-dimensional space.

[1] Alongside the eminent chemist Ronald Gillespie, he had a significant influence on inorganic chemistry education in Canada.

[2] His father was a butcher at Burns Pride of Canada and his mother was a housekeeper at Kitchener Hospital of Waterloo.

Richard Bader discovered that electron density is very important in explaining the behavior of atoms in the molecules.

[1][7] 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.