Walter Ransom Gail Baker

For other people named Walter Baker, see Walter Baker (disambiguation).

Walter Ransom Gail Baker
Walter R. G. Baker
Born	(1892-11-30)November 30, 1892[1] Lockport, New York
Died	October 30, 1960(1960-10-30) (aged 67)[2] Syracuse, New York, U.S.
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Union College
Awards	IEEE Medal of Honor (1952) IEEE Founders Medal (1958)
Scientific career
Fields	Electrical engineering

Walter Ransom Gail Baker (November 30, 1892 – October 30, 1960) was an American electrical engineer.^[3] He was a vice president of General Electric, and was Director of Engineering for the Radio Manufacturers Association (now the Electronic Industries Alliance). At the urging of James Lawrence Fly, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Baker founded the National Television System Committee, or NTSC, in 1940.^[4][5] He served as president of the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) in 1947.

Biography

He was born in Lockport, New York, in 1892. He graduated from Union College with a B.S. in electrical engineering in 1916. He took a job with General Electric in 1916 and worked on radio for military applications during World War I.^[6]

He received a M.S. in electrical engineering from Union College, in 1919.^[6]

He died on October 30, 1960.^[6]

Awards and honors

Walter Baker received following awards and honors:^[5]

• The SMPTE David Sarnoff Medal in 1959
• The IRE Founders Award in 1958
• The Army Medal of Freedom in 1953
• The IRE Medal of Honor in 1952
• Eminent Member of Eta Kappa Nu in 1954
• IRE Fellow in 1928
• The initially called W.R.G. Baker Award provided by the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE), was created in 1956 from a donation from Dr. Walter R. G. Baker to the IRE. The award continued to be awarded as IEEE W.R.G. Baker Award by the board of directors of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), after the IRE organization merged into the IEEE.^[7]

The call sign of (then)-General Electric owned television station in Schenectady, WRGB (then an NBC station, it joined CBS in 1981), was chosen in his honor.

References

1. Televiser, Volumes 1-1946. Television Publications. 1944.
2. Union, American Geophysical (1961). Transactions - American Geophysical Union.
3. "Obituary: Walter R. G. Baker". Physics Today. 14 (1): 98. January 1961. doi:10.1063/1.3057377.
4. Donald G. Fink, The Forces at Work Behind the NTSC Standards, a paper presented at the 122nd annual SMPTE Technical Conference, November 9–14, 1980, New York, N.Y.
5. "Walter Baker". IEEE Global History Network. IEEE. Retrieved 2010-11-20.
6. "Dr. W.R.G. Baker, TV Pioneer, Dead. Vice President for Research at Syracuse Was Former General Electric Officer". New York Times. October 31, 1960. Retrieved 2010-11-20. The scientist, whose full name was Walter Ransom Gail Baker, was born in Lockport. He graduated in 1916 from Union College, later receiving a master ...
7. "IEEE W.R.G. Baker Award". IEEE. Archived from the original on April 6, 2010. Retrieved November 20, 2010.