Albert V. Baez

Mexican-born physicist and educator

• Born: November 15, 1912
• Birthplace: Puebla, Mexico
• Died: March 20, 2007
• Place of death: Redwood City, California

Baez was a physicist who coinvented the first X-ray microscope and helped launch the science of X-ray imaging optics. A pacifist, he refused to use his physics background to develop nuclear arms during the Cold War; instead, he turned his focus to education and pioneered the discipline of science education worldwide.

Early Life

Albert Vinicio Baez (vee-NEE-see-oh BI-ehz) was born November 15, 1912, in Puebla, Mexico, to Alberto Baez, Methodist minister, and his wife, Thalia. Although Baez moved with his family to the United States when he was two years old, he did not become a naturalized citizen until 1938. The family settled in Brooklyn, New York, where his mother was a social worker for the Young Women’s Christian Association. When Baez was seven, the family returned to Puebla for a year, which strengthened connections to his Mexican heritage and identity. He also was greatly influenced by his grandfather, who had established the Instituto Metodista Mexicano (an institute to train and educate Methodist ministers).

Baez attended Drew University, receiving a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics in 1933. After attending Syracuse University, where he earned a master’s degree in mathematics in 1935, he taught physics and mathematics in colleges in New York. In 1936, he married Joan C. Bridge, whom he had met in high school. They had three daughters: Pauline and folk singers Mimi Fariña and Joan Baez.

During World War II, Baez moved his family to California, where he had been hired to teach a physics course for the Army at Stanford University. At the end of the war, he joined the faculty and continued teaching while working on his doctorate in mathematics and physics, which he earned in 1950. While conducting graduate research, Baez and his adviser, Paul Kirkpatrick, built an X-ray microscope that used angled mirrors to focus the X-rays. This tactic became known as Kirkpatrick-Baez geometry. In his dissertation, Baez referred to the ability to use X-rays for imaging as “X-ray optics.”

Life’s Work

Baez remained a physics professor in California until 1956. Although colleagues were recruited to use their expertise in the arms race during the Cold War, Baez objected to using his research for destruction. Because science and mathematics were becoming increasingly important, he turned his attention to improving high school science programs in the United States and eventually establishing science and mathematics curriculum in other countries. From 1951 to 1952, he took a leave from teaching at the University of Redlands in California. He took his family to Iraq, where he taught physics and set up a laboratory and program of study at the University of Baghdad. He and his wife later wrote a memoir of the family’s experiences abroad, which included drawings by their daughter Joan.

Throughout his life, Baez continued to improve on the technology of X-ray optics. Although attempts to create a hologram image using X-rays failed (because the X-rays could not be focused narrowly enough), he did eventually modify the X-ray microscope to use an array of curved mirrors to focus the rays. This modification later was used in creating the X-ray telescope.

By the end of the 1950’s, Baez had become increasingly interested in effective science education. He advocated for fundamental scientific literacy and the need for an investigative and experimental approach in order to develop skills in observation and interpretation. From 1958 to 1960, Baez was studio physicist for the Physical Science Study Committee. He appeared in training films created to improve the teaching of high school physics. Between 1961 and 1967, he served as the first director of science education for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). He developed and oversaw programs to improve the teaching of science and mathematics worldwide and helped developing nations adapt curricula to their cultures. In 1967, he published a physics textbook.

Baez was a lifelong pacifist (he and his wife became Quakers after marriage) who opposed the Vietnam War, and during that time he became increasingly involved in activism and humanitarian programs. He also became concerned about the environment and the impact of science and technology on our planet. After his retirement, Baez continued to promote science education through speeches and lectures. He became involved in and served as president of Vivamos Mejor/USA, an organization that works to improve health, housing, nutrition, and environmental technology in Latin America.

In 1991, Baez and Kirkpatrick received the Dennis Gabor Award for their pioneering work in development of X-ray optics in both microscopes and telescopes. To honor his contributions to both science and humanity, the Hispanic Engineer National Achievements Awards Corporation (HENAAC) established the Albert V. Baez Award in 1995. It is awarded to engineers and scientists for outstanding technological achievement and humanitarian service. Baez died of natural causes on March 20, 2007, in Redwood City, California. He was ninety-four years old.

Significance

Baez was a major figure in the field of physics and in science and technology education. His pioneering work in the physics of light during World War II led to the development of a discipline, X-ray imaging optics, that had important applications in the technologies used for space exploration into the 1990’s. He also had a significant impact on the methods used to teach science and mathematics internationally. Baez worked to establish science laboratories as part of curriculum in high schools as well as colleges and universities and advocated for science education that was practical and relevant.

Bibliography

Baez, Albert V. Innovation in Science Education World-Wide. New York: UNESCO Press, 1976. Baez draws on twenty-five years of experience in the field of science education, describing his philosophy for and reasoning in improving how science is taught.

Baez, Albert V., and Joan Baez. A Year in Baghdad. Santa Barbara, Calif: John Daniel, 1988. Describes couple’s experiences trying to settle their family into life in Baghdad in 1951 while Baez taught physics at the university. Offers insight into the family’s values, which were clarified through their trials and travails.

Reimers, Fernando. “Albert Vinicio Baez and the Promotion of Science Education in the Developing World 1912-2007,” Prospects 37 (September, 2007): p. 369-381. Provides a brief biography of the scientist and describes the impact he had on physics and education. Discusses Baez’s approach toward and contributions to science education.