John Baker, Baron Baker
| John Fleetwood Baker | |
|---|---|
| Born | 19 March 1901 |
| Died | 9 September 1985 (aged 84) |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Rossall School, Clare College, Cambridge |
| Spouse(s) | Fiona Mary MacAlister Walker |
| Children | Joanna and Dinah |
| Parent(s) | J.W. Baker, Emily Fleetwood |
| Engineering career | |
| Discipline | structural engineer |
| Institutions | Institution of Structural Engineers |
| Projects | Baker Building, Cambridge University Engineering Department |
| Significant design | Morrison shelter |
| Significant advance | plastic theory of structural analysis |
| Awards |
IStructE Gold Medal OBE Fellow of the Royal Society |
John Fleetwood Baker, Baron Baker, OBE FRS (19 March 1901 – 9 September 1985) was a British scientist and structural engineer.
Baker was born in Liscard, Cheshire, a son of J.W. Baker and Emily Fleetwood. He was educated at Rossall School and Clare College, Cambridge and married Fiona Mary MacAlister Walker in 1928.
After graduation, Baker worked with the Air Ministry on structural problems of airships. At 28, in 1929, he contracted tuberculosis. Upon recovering, he became a Technical Officer with the Structural Steel Research Committee, which was investigating why measured stresses in structural steel bore little resemblance to theoretical ones. During his time in this post, he developed the plastic theory of design, a revolutionary method of design of steel structures which gives a lower bound on the collapse load, and is hence always safe. Until then, all design of steel structures was based on elastic theory of design. In 1932 he was awarded the Telford Gold Medal of the Institution of Civil Engineers for the work.
In 1933 Baker became Professor of Engineering at Bristol University, after which he was scientific adviser to the Design and Development Section of the Ministry of Home Security from 1939 to 1943. In this time he created the Morrison indoor shelter, using his plastic theory of structural analysis. Baker was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1941 Birthday Honours.
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