Father: Harold May Baker – 1870-1954
Mother: Helen Stokes – 1881-1945
William Oliver Baker – b: July 15,1915 d: October 31, 2005
Wife: Frances Burrill (b: 1917) - November 14, 1941 in Westfield, NJ - Deceased 1999
Son: Joseph Burrill Baker – b. 1947
Chestertown High School – September 1927 to June 1931 – Chestertown, MD
Washington College – September 1931 to June 1935 – Chestertown, MD
Princeton University – September 1935 to May 1939 – Princeton, NJ
Member of Technial Staff - May 1939
Head of the Polymer Research and Development Department - 1948
Assistant Director of Chemical and Metallurgical Research - 1951
Director of Physical Sciences Research - 1955
Vice President, Research - 1955
President of Bell Labs - 1973
Chairman of the Board - 1979
Retired - 1980
Washington College, Sc. D. (hon.) 1957
Stevens Institute of Technology, D. Eng. (hon.) 1962
Georgetown University, D. Eng. (hon.) 1962
University of Pittsburgh, D. Sc. (hon.) 1963
Seton Hall University, D. Sc. (hon.) 1965
University of Glasgow, LL. D. (hon.) 1965
University of Akron, D. Sc. (hon.) 1968
University of Michigan, D. Sc. (hon.) 1970
Saint Peter’s College, D. Sc. (hon.) 1972
Monmouth College, LHD. (hon.) 1973
Polytechnic Institute of New York, D. Sc. (hon.) 1973
University of Pennsylvania, LL. D. (hon.) 1974
Clarkson College of Technology, LHD. (hon.) 1974
Trinity College (Dublin), D. Sc. (hon.) 1975
Kean College of New Jersey, LL. D. (hon.) 1976
Northwestern University, D. Sc. (hon.) 1976
University of Notre Dame, D. Sc. (hon.) 1978
New Jersey Institute of Technology, D. Eng. (hon.) 1978
Lehigh University, LL. D. (hon.) 1980
Drew University, LL. D. (hon.) 1983
Tufts University, Sc. D. (hon.) 1981
New Jersey College of Medicine & Dentistry, Sc. D. (hon.) 1981
Clark University, Sc. D. (hon.) 1983
Fairleigh Dickinson University, Sc. D. (hon.) 1982
Rockefeller University, Sc. D. (hon.) 1990
Princeton University, LL. D. (hon.) 1993
Rutgers University, Sc. D. (hon.) 1995
Presidential
National Security Award (1982)
National Medal of Science (1988)
ChemistryHonor Scroll of the American Institute of Chemists (1962)
Perkin Medal of the Society of Chemical Industry (1963)
Priestly Medal of the American Chemical Society (1966)
Gold Medal of the American Institute of Chemists (1975)
Parsons Award of the American Chemical Society (1976)
Gibbs Medal of the American Chemical Society (1978)
Madison Marshall Award of the North Alabama Section of the ACS (1980)
OtherEdgar Marburg Award (1967)
American Society for Testing and Materials Award to Executives (1967)
Industrial Research Institute Medal (1970)
Frederick Philips Award (1973)
Sigma Xi Procter Prize (1973)
Industrial Research Man-of-the-Year Award (1973)
James Madison Medal of Princeton University (1975)
Mellon Institute Award (1975)
Society of Research Administrators Award for Distinguished Contributions to Research Administration (1976)
Fahrney Medal - Franklin Institute (1977)
New Jersey Science/Technology Medal (1980)
Jefferson Medal - New Jersey Patent Law Association (1981)
David Sarnoff Award - Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (1981)
Vannevar Bush Award – National Science Foundation (1981)
SASA Medal of Achievement – Security Affairs Support Association (1984)
Arthur M. Bueche Award – National Academy of Engineering (1986)
Thomas Alva Edison Medal for Science – State of New Jersey (1987)
Distinguished Service Award – National Association of Governing Boards (1993)
Philip Hauge Abelson Award – American Association for the Advancement of Science (1995)
David Rockefeller Award for Extraordinary Service – Rockefeller University (1997)
New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame Induction (1998)
Benjamin Franklin Medal – American Philosophical Society (2000)
Award Plaque Listing – National Reconnaissance Office (2000)
Lifetime Achievement Award – National Inventors Hall of Fame (2002)
Lifetime Achievement Award – Marconi International Fellowship Foundation (2003)
• The William O. Baker Professorship in Computer Science at Princeton University.
• The William Oliver Baker Award of the Security Affairs Support Association (now the Intelligence and National Security Alliance).
• The Award for Initiatives in Research, of the National Academy of Sciences, established in 1981 by AT&T Bell Laboratories in honor of William O. Baker and supported by Alcatel-Lucent.
• The Baker Family Scholarship at Drew University.
• The William O. Baker Graduate Fellowships at Rockefeller University, established by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
[representative examples]
New Jersey related:
• New Jersey State Board of Higher Education – charter member (1967-1994) – vice chairman (1970-1972)
• New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology – founding member (1985-2003)
• The Fund for New Jersey – trustee (1974-2003)
• Advisory Board, New Jersey Science/Technology Center – member (1980-1986)
Government:
• National Commission on Excellence in Education – member (1981-1983)
• President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board – member (1957-1977; 1981-1988)
• Federal Emergency Management Advisory Board – member (1980-1993)
• White House Office of Science and Technology – consultant (1977-1981)
• National Cancer Advisory Board – member (1974-1980)
• Advisory Board on Military Personnel and Supplies – chairman (1964-1978)
• President’s Science Advisory Committee – member (1957-1960)
Trusteeships:
• Rockefeller University – trustee (1960-1990) – chairman of the board (1980-1990) – chairman emeritus
• Carnegie-Mellon University – trustee (1967-1987) – trustee emeritus
• Princeton University – trustee (1964-1976) – trustee emeritus
• Aerospace Corporation – trustee (1961-1976)
• Andrew W. Mellon Foundation – trustee (1965-1990) – chairman of the board (1975-1990) – chairman emeritus
• Robert A. Welch Foundation Scientific Advisory Board – member (1968-2002)
• Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation – director (1976-1997) – lifetime director
• Health Effects Institute-Asbestos Research – director (1980-1995)