ALBERT VINICIO BAEZ, 1912 – 2007

Born in Puebla, Mexico to a Mexican father and a Scottish mother, Albert Baez grew up in New York City. He decided not to become a Methodist minister like his father, but instead pursued math and physics. He earned a BS from Drew University, an MS from Syracuse University and a Ph.D. in physics from Stanford. While still a graduate student, Baez did ground-breaking work developing materials to use diffraction to focus X-rays which could finally be utilized decades later with high-intensity sources. Due to his pacificism and commitment to education, Baez refused to work in the highly paid defense industry during the Cold War in the 1950s. Instead, he became a professor at the University of Redlands. He took leave in 1951 to work with UNESCO and establish a physics department at Baghdad University. In 1960 Baez developed optics for an X-ray telescope while at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge. In the early sixties, Baez became the first director of UNESCO’s science education program in Paris. As a retiree, he served as president of Vivamos Mejor/USA, an organization which helped impoverished villages in Mexico. Baez authored two physics textbooks and made nearly 100 films on physics for the Encyclopedia Britannica Educational Corporation. Two of Baez’ daughters, Joan Baez and Mimi Farina, became well-known singers and activists.