Albert Baez

Albert Vinicio Baez (* November 15, 1912 in Puebla, Mexico, † March 20, 2007 in Redwood City, California ) was an American physicist.

Life and work

As a two- year-old Baez moved with his family to the United States and grew up in Brooklyn. First, he wanted to be a pastor before he turned to mathematics and physics. Baez married Joan Bridge, moved to California, where he earned a master's degree in mathematics and received his doctorate in physics.

In 1948 he developed together with Professor Paul Kirkpatrick of Stanford University, the X-ray microscope for the study of living cells, which is used today in medicine.

As the Cold War began in the 1950s, Baez ' skills for the arms race taking place were in high demand. Influenced by the pacifist convictions of his family, Baez refused lucrative positions in the defense industry and dedicated his career to education and humanity. In 1951, he worked for a short time with Unesco, in the course of which he lived with his family in Baghdad. He subsequently returned to California. In 1959, Baez took a job at MIT and moved with his family to the Boston area.

Baez is the author of The New College Physics: A Spiral Approach ( 1967), which is regarded by many as the leading textbook of physics. He is also co-author of the book The Environment and Science and Technology Education (1987). Together with his wife Joan, he wrote A Year in Baghdad (1988 ), a report on the time in which they lived in Iraq.

After his retirement he held occasionally physics lectures and was president of Vivamos Mejor, an organization which was founded in 1988 to help impoverished villages in Mexico. In 1995, the HENAAC, the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corporation, the Albert V. Baez Award for Technical Excellence and Service to Humanity introduced. 1998 Baez was inducted into the Hall of Fame HENAAC.

Baez is the father of folk singers Joan Baez and Mimi Fariña, as well as the uncle of the mathematical physicist John Baez.

Swell

  • Albert V. Baez and Joan Baez: A Year in Baghdad, Santa Barbara, CA: Daniel & Daniel Pub, 1988, ISBN 0936784385
  • Meet the Parents, short biography of Albert Baez and Joan Bridge Baez on The Richard and Mimi Fariña Fansite (English)
  • Paul Liberatore, " Noted scientist what father of Joan Baez and Mimi Farina ," Obituary for Albert Baez in the Marin Independent Journal, online March 20, 2007 (English)
  • The Hall of Fame Inductees HENAAC ( version of 14 June 2006 on the Internet Archive ) with a short biography on the website of HENAAC Inc. ( English)
  • Physicist ( 20th century)
  • University teachers (MIT)
  • Americans
  • Born in 1912
  • Died in 2007
  • Man
John C. Baez Integrated Authority File
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