16 Facts About Albert Baez

Albert Vinicio Baez was a Mexican-American physicist and the father of singers Joan Baez and Mimi Farina, and an uncle of John C Baez.

Albert Baez made important contributions to the early development of X-ray microscopes and later X-ray telescopes.

Albert Baez was born in Puebla, Mexico in 1912 to Alberto B Baez and Thalia Baez.

Albert Baez's father was a Methodist minister and his mother was a social worker for the YWCA.

Albert Baez earned degrees in mathematics and physics from Drew University and mathematics from Syracuse University.

Albert Baez married Joan Chandos Bridge, the daughter of an Episcopalian priest, in 1936.

In 1948, Albert Baez co-invented, with his doctoral program advisor, Paul Kirkpatrick, the X-ray reflection microscope for examination of living cells.

Albert Baez took leave for a year to work with UNESCO in 1951, and stationed his family in Baghdad to establish the physics department and laboratory at Baghdad University.

In 1959, Albert Baez accepted a faculty position at MIT and moved his family to the Boston area.

Albert Baez worked on physics education with the Physical Science Study Committee, in particular, focused on producing films.

Albert Baez was the author of the textbook The New College Physics: A Spiral Approach.

Albert Baez was the co-author of the textbook The Environment and Science and Technology Education, and the memoir, A Year in Baghdad, written with his wife Joan.

Albert Baez chaired the Commission on Education of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources from 1979 to 1983.

Albert Baez himself was inducted into the HENAAC Hall of Fame in 1998.

Albert Baez died of natural causes on March 20,2007, at age 94 in the Redwood City care home where he had lived for the prior three years.

Albert Baez had been divorced from his wife, Joan Bridge Albert Baez, for several years, at the time of his death.