Robert Horace Baker - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Biography

Robert Horace Baker was born on March 29, 1883 in Northampton, Massachusetts, the son of Horace Hall Baker and Ellen H. Puffer. He died in a hospital in Upland, California on June 23, 1964. Educated at Amherst College

Amherst College

Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...

, he graduated with an A.B. in 1904 and A.M. the following year. His graduate work in astronomy was done at the University of Pittsburgh

University of Pittsburgh

The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...

where he was an assistant at Allegheny Observatory

Allegheny Observatory

The Allegheny Observatory is an American astronomical research institution, a part of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh. The facility is listed on the National Register of Historical Places The Allegheny Observatory is an American astronomical research...

and where he obtained the Ph.D. degree in 1910 . Dr. Baker was also awarded an honorary D.Sc. by Oglethorpe University in 1936.

Dr. Baker’s first post was that of Assistant Professor at Brown University

Brown University

Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

(1910-1911) and he then became a Professor at the University of Missouri

University of Missouri

The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...

in 1911, a post he held until 1922. While at Laws Observatory

Laws Observatory

Laws Observatory is the name of three separate astronomical observatorys owned and operated by University of Missouri from 1880 to the present. Named after former University President Samuel Laws, it is located in Columbia, Missouri .-History:...

in Missouri he used a visual photometer to study variable stars. Baker left Missouri’s Law Observatory after a decade of frustration and an inability to obtain a more modern observatory. After a year as Kellogg Fellow at Lick Observatory

Lick Observatory

The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory, owned and operated by the University of California. It is situated on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, USA...

in California, he was appointed Professor of Astronomy and Director of the University of Illinois Observatory

University of Illinois Observatory

The University of Illinois Astronomical Observatory was constructed in 1896. It stands on South Matthews Avenue in Urbana, Champaign County, Illinois. The observatory was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 6, 1986 and on December 20, 1989, the U.S. Department of Interior...

in 1923. While at Lick, he used the photoelectric photometer on the 12-inch telescope to study u Herculis. He continued working on photoelectric photometry when he arrived at Illinois.

In 1931-1932 and again in 1938-39 he was a Research Associate of Harvard University while on sabbatical working with Bart Bok

Bart Bok

Bart Jan Bok was a Dutch-American astronomer.He was born in the Netherlands, but spent a good deal of his childhood days growing up in what was then known as the Dutch East Indies. He was educated at the Leiden and Groningen Universities. In 1929 he married fellow astronomer Dr...

’s Star Count Circuit. Starting in 1939, he changed his research focus to the Milky Way and Galactic Structure. Dr. Baker’s professional activities extended through many fields. His research publications run to more than forty articles in the areas of galactic structure, extragalactic nebulae cataloguing, variable star measurement, solar corona structure, and others. He was an exceptionally fine observer and possessed the added talent of clarity of style that made his articles models of scholarly writing. It is characteristic of his abiding interest in astronomy that he continued to publish research after becoming emeritus. His students include Elaine Nantkes, Lois Kiefer, David Heeschen, and Allan Sandage

Allan Sandage

Allan Rex Sandage was an American astronomer. He was Staff Member Emeritus with the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, California. He is best known for determining the first reasonably accurate value for the Hubble constant and the age of the universe.-Career:Sandage was one of the most...

.

He enjoyed great success with his textbooks Astronomy and An Introduction to Astronomy, both published by Van Nostrand, which have gone through many editions and numerous revisions. Reviewers invariably refer to them as “classics” and as the “standard by which other texts in astronomy are measured.” Otto Struve

Otto Struve

Otto Struve was a Russian astronomer. In Russian, his name is sometimes given as Otto Lyudvigovich Struve ; however, he spent most of his life and his entire scientific career in the United States...

call An Introduction to Astronomy an excellent textbook that set a high standard. Dr. Baker took special pride in these books as indicated by the fact that he kept them up to date with periodic revisions even after retirement.

His very marked ability as an author served him well also in the field of popular astronomy. His books The Universe Unfolding, When the stars come out, Introducing the Constellations, and Stars: An Guide to the Heavens, the last in collaboration with H. Zim, are known and esteemed the world over.

Among the professional societies in which he held membership are the American Astronomical Society

American Astronomical Society

The American Astronomical Society is an American society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC...

, the American Association for the Advancement of Science

American Association for the Advancement of Science

The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...

, the American Physical Society

American Physical Society

The American Physical Society is the world's second largest organization of physicists, behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. The Society publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the world renowned Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than 20...

, the Royal Astronomical Society

Royal Astronomical Society

The Royal Astronomical Society is a learned society that began as the Astronomical Society of London in 1820 to support astronomical research . It became the Royal Astronomical Society in 1831 on receiving its Royal Charter from William IV...

, and Sigma Xi

Sigma Xi

Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society is a non-profit honor society which was founded in 1886 at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a handful of graduate students. Members elect others on the basis of their research achievements or potential...

. Dr. Baker held this post until his retirement from the University of Illinois in 1951, having also been an Assistant Dean of the Graduate College in 1949-1951.

Robert married Rose Koenig of Goldendale, Washington in 1911 in Ann Arbor, Michigan and they had two children, Ralph (born 1913) and Ruth (born 1914). Rose died in February 1925 of pneumonia. He married Mary Howe in June 1926 and had one son Robert H. born 1927. Mary Howe was the daughter of Louis McHenry Howe, secretary and advisor to President Franklin Roosevelt.

Biography

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