Robert B. Jordan received an Honors B.Sc. in chemistry from the University of Western Ontario, now Western University, in 1961 and proceeded to postgraduate work at the University of Chicago under the inspiring direction of Professor Henry Taube (Nobel Prize 1983). In 1962–63, he moved with Professor Taube to Stanford University to complete his postgraduate research for which he was awarded a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1964. This was followed by a postdoctoral appointment with Professor John. P. Hunt at Washington State University, where he learned the basics of NMR in paramagnetic systems, with the assistance of Professor Harold Dodgen, and met his future wife. He was appointed as Assistant Professor in Chemistry at the University of Alberta in 1965, where he continued to serve until retirement in 2005. During this time, he was promoted to Associate and then Full Professor in 1971 and 1978, respectively, and was Department Chairman from 1984 to 1989. The help of many graduate students and several collaborators resulted in the publication of 132 papers. He also authored the book titled "Reaction Mechanisms of Inorganic and Organometallic Systems" which has been published in three editions in 1991, 1998, and 2007.