Born: August 19, 1939, London
[Died] February 4, 2018. British mathematician. After graduating from the University of London in 1961, he obtained his doctorate from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1964. After graduating from University College, he became a professor at Trinity College in 1966. At the International Congress of Mathematicians held in Nice, France in 1970, he received the Fields Medal for his work on number theory. Baker's work made it theoretically possible to find all the solutions to many indeterminate equations. There had been pioneering research on Diophantine equations by Axel Thuhe of Norway, Karl Ludwig Siegel of Germany, and Klaus Friedrich Roth of England, but Baker showed that for Diophantine equations in two variables, there exist valid values that limit the absolute value of the solution depending only on the order and coefficients of the equation. This research is related to Baker's generalization of the Gelfond-Schneider theorem (David Hilbert's seventh problem). The Gelfond–Schneider theorem states that for two algebraic numbers α and β, α β is a transcendental number under certain conditions, and Baker succeeded in generalizing this to the case of pairs of any number of numbers. Baker
Baker, James Born April 28, 1930 in Houston, Texas. US politician and lawyer. Full name James Addison Baker III. Served as Secretary of State under the Bush administration from 1989 to 1992. Graduated from Princeton University and Texas State University School of Law. After working as a lawyer, he entered politics and government through his friendship with Bush. He served as Chief of Staff to the President during the first term of the Reagan administration from 1981 to 1985, and later became Secretary of the Treasury (1985-1988). In the 1988 presidential election, he contributed to Bush's election as campaign chairman and was appointed Secretary of State. In 1990, he helped obtain the agreement of the Soviet Union during the unification of East and West Germany, and in the Gulf War, which began with Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, he worked hard to form a multinational force. In 1992, he resigned as Secretary of State and served as Chief of Staff to the President until 1993. Along with former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, he is said to have been the Secretary of State who traveled the world the most, and he devoted himself particularly to the Middle East peace issue. After leaving office, he served as a special envoy of the UN Secretary-General to mediate the Western Sahara conflict, and in the mid-2000s he served on several government investigative committees. In 1991, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Baker
Baker, Josephine Born: June 3, 1906 in St. Louis
[Died] April 12, 1975. French singer and dancer born in Paris, USA. Born to Spanish and African-American parents. She started dancing at about the age of eight, and after joining a revue group in Philadelphia, she won acclaim as the lead dancer in a black musical at a music hall in New York in 1923. In 1925, she moved to Paris and appeared at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, where she caused a sensation by dancing the Charleston. In 1930, she became an exclusive dancer at the Casino de Paris, where she was called the "Queen of Amber" and also appeared in films. In 1937, she obtained French citizenship and joined the Red Cross during World War II. Later, as a lieutenant in the French Free Forces, she entertained soldiers on the front lines in Africa and the Middle East. In 1950, she adopted many orphans from around the world and founded a utopia called Les Mirandes in southwestern France. She retired from the stage in 1956, but made a successful comeback at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris in 1959 to maintain Les Mirandes. Baker
Baker, Ray Stannard Born April 17, 1870 in Lansing, Michigan.
[Died] July 12, 1946, Amherst, Massachusetts. American journalist. Pen name: David Grayson. After graduating from the University of Michigan, he became a reporter for the Chicago Record in 1892, and later became involved with McClure's Magazine, a group of "muckrakers" who exposed scandals. In 1906, he founded the American Magazine and became its editor. He began publishing essays under his pen name in 1907. In 1919, President Wilson appointed him press secretary for the Paris Peace Conference, and he wrote prolifically for the League of Nations. He later became an authority on Wilson and his times, writing the book Wilson: A Life of Wilson (8 volumes, 1927-39), which won a Pulitzer Prize. His other works include the autobiographical American Chronicle (1945). Baker
Baker, Sir Samuel White Born: June 8, 1821, London
[Died] December 30, 1893. Sandford Olley, Devon. British explorer. He lived in Mauritius from 1843 to 1845, and worked in agriculture in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) from 1846 to 1855, where he established a farm. He traveled to the Near East from 1856 to 1860. He went to Africa in 1861 and explored the tributaries of the Nile in the border area between Sudan and Abyssinia (now Ethiopia). He traveled up the White Nile and discovered Lake Albert in March 1864. He returned to the United States in 1865. He was knighted the following year. In 1869, he led a military expedition to the equatorial Nile region as governor, and returned to the United States in 1873. His main works are "Rifle and Hound in Ceylon" (1853) and "Eight Years' Wanderings in Ceylon" (55). Baker
Backer, Chet Born: December 23, 1929, Yale, Oklahoma
[Died] May 13, 1988. Amsterdam American jazz trumpeter and singer. He played in the military band during his military service from 1950 to 1952, and after being discharged, he joined J. Mulligan's quartet in San Francisco, where he was stationed, and quickly became known as a West Coast jazz trumpeter and for his unique androgynous singing voice. In 1953, he formed his own quartet and became a popular star. Since 1955, he has been active in Europe. He was almost inactive in the 1960s due to repeated drug addiction problems, but he returned in 1973 and regained his fame. Baker
Baker, George Pierce Born: April 4, 1866 in Providence
[Died] January 6, 1935, New Haven. American drama scholar. After graduating from Harvard University, he opened the first practical drama course in America at the school, where he taught playwriting and staged the works of his students, and launched the world into the world of outstanding playwrights, directors, and set designers, including E. O'Neill, S.C. Howard, G. Abbott, and R.E. Jones. His main works include Dramatic Technique (1919). Baker
Baker, Harvey Humphrey Born: April 11, 1869, Brooklyn
[Died] April 10, 1915. Brooklyn, American lawyer. Graduated with a Master's degree from Harvard Law School in 1894. After becoming a lawyer, he became the first judge at the Boston Juvenile Court when it was established in 1906, and has since helped to develop the court into one of the leading juvenile courts in the United States. The Judge Baker Foundation, a juvenile consultation center established in April 1917, is named after him. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information |
