Ira Baldwin
| Ira L. Baldwin | |
|---|---|
| Born |
August 20, 1895 Indiana, United States |
| Died | August 9, 1999 (aged 103) Tucson, Arizona, United States |
| Occupation | biologist |
| Nationality | American |
| Subject | bacteriology |
Ira L. Baldwin (August 20, 1895 – August 9, 1999) was the founder and director emeritus of the Wisconsin Academy Foundation. He began teaching bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he had done his doctoral work, in 1927, and a few years later moved into what became a long career in administration. He held positions as chair of the Department of Bacteriology, dean of the Graduate School, dean and director of the College of Agriculture, university vice president for academic affairs, and special assistant to the president. He was also involved in programs for agricultural development both in the United States and abroad. Among Baldwin's many achievements was a review of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, titled "Chemicals and Pests" in the journal Science.
Ira Baldwin was born in 1895 on a 40-acre farm in Indiana. In his youth, he earned money to attend college by selling ducks and husking corn. In World War I, he served as a second lieutenant in an artillery unit, state-side. Baldwin attended college at Purdue but sought his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
George W. Merck, a key member of the panel advising President Franklin D. Roosevelt on aspects of biological warfare, brought many scientists into uniform for a super-secret, coordinated effort to defend against possible enemy use of biological weapons and to devise a capability to respond "in kind" to any such attack. Among them was Baldwin, then a professor of bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin. In 1943, Baldwin became the first scientific director of the U.S. Army Biological Warfare Laboratories at Camp Detrick, Maryland.
America's biological weapons research program was the first time that the United States had taken full initiative to study the use of biological warfare. It all started when Baldwin and other scientists were called in for a secret meeting in Washington. After hearing that Germany and Japan were going to start the use of biological warfare, they were asked if it was possible for the United States to produce a substantial amount of their own biological agents. Baldwin responded with, "[I]f you could do it in a test tube, you could do it in a 10,000-gallon tank. If you get enough tanks I’m sure you will get tons.” About a month after the meeting, Baldwin was individually called by Colonel William Kabrich of the Army’s Chemical Warfare Service and asked if he would lead the project. Although it only took him a day to say yes, Baldwin went through a lot of thought processing as he assessed the moral ramifications of what he was about to do. What he said to Kabrich was, “you start out with the idea in war of killing people, and that to me is the immoral part of it. It doesn’t make much difference how you kill them.”
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