William O. Baker

Biographical Information

William O. Baker, (died in 2005)

"Bill Baker was a vital force in shaping The Rockefeller University over the course of four decades, as Trustee and then Board Chairman, and finally as Chairman Emeritus. It was our great privilege to award him an honorary degree in 1990 and the David Rockefeller Award for Extraordinary Service to the University in 1997. His memory lives on in the numerous outstanding scientists he recruited to the University (including two Nobel laureates), the research building and two residential towers constructed on his watch, and the William O. Baker Graduate Fellowships, established in his honor by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Bill Baker possessed one of the most broad-gauged, deep, and penetrating minds of the 20th Century... As head of Bell Labs, he was responsible for directing programs that led to such technological wonders as the laser, digital computing, cellular telephones, and superconducting magnets. What Bell Labs achieved under his leadership, during an extraordinary period of technological growth and development, created an entirely new paradigm for the enlightened corporation..."

• Former Trustee, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
• Emeritus Director, General American Investors Company

Other

"Mr. William O. Baker is a Trustee at Carnegie Mellon University. He is a retired Chairman of the Board, Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies Inc. He is a Chairman Emeritus at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Mr Baker retired in 1980 as chairman of the board of Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc., following service since 1973 as president. He joined Bell Laboratories in 1939, becoming head of polymer research and development in 1948; from 1951 to 1954 he was assistant ... director of chemical and metallurgical research, and during the next year was director of physical sciences research. He became vice-president of research in 1955 and had overall responsibility for Bell Laboratories research programs for the next 25 years. He is a trustee of Carnegie-Mellon, Princeton, and Rockefeller (chairman) universities. On the Board of Overseers of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, he serves also as a trustee of the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, the Fund for New Jersey, General Motors Cancer Research Foundation, the Charles Babbage Institute, and the Andrew Mellon Foundation (chairman). He presently serves as chairman of the Summit Bancorporation, Johnson & Johnson, Annual Reviews, and the Health Effects Institute. Dr. Baker received a Ph.D. degree from Princeton University, holding Harvard and Proctor fellowships, after receiving a B.S. in physical chemistry from Washington College." (Contributors. In: The Positive Sum Strategy: Harnessing Technology for Economic Growth. By Ralph Landau and Nathan Rosenberg. National Academy Press, 1986.) "

Ph.D., is a "physical chemist and signals intelligence expert at AT&T Bell Laboratories." Dr. Baker served as scientific counselor to the National Security Agency (NSA), Central Intelligence Agency CIA, the U.S. Navy (USN), and National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) on "overhead reconnaissance systems." He also served on the President's Science Advisory Committee and the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. In August 2000, Baker was honored by the NRO as a founder/pioneer of National Reconnaissance.[1] [2]