George Baker

George Baker (1908–1975) was an Australian mineralogist, geologist, university teacher and researcher based in Melbourne, Victoria in the mid-20th century. His teaching and research work was undertaken through positions at the University of Melbourne, CSIRO and the National Museum of Victoria (now Melbourne Museum).

Early life Baker was born at Coventry, Warwickshire, England on 10 October 1908. His mother died when he was seven months old and he was first cared for by his aunt, then later was placed under the guardianship of a Quaker solicitor. Indeed, some Aboriginal groups in Western Australia and the Nullarbor Plains directly associated tektites with meteors and cosmic impacts - the "sky stones" were "valuable to Indigenous cultures as surgical tools and implements for use in ritual and ceremony." His work ranged to the "specific gravity relationships" that contributed to the formation of these phenomena.

Baker was recognised for the quality of his research work by the University of Melbourne through award of the David Syme Research Prize in 1944, and was conferred the degree of Doctor of Science (DSc) by the university in 1956.

Death and legacy George Baker died in Melbourne on 25 August 1975, leaving his extensive collection of 2,500 Victorian tektites to the National Museum of Victoria and a portrait painted by Melbourne artist Orlando Dutton to the Royal Society of Victoria.