John Baker (biologist)

John Randal Baker
Born (1900-10-23)23 October 1900
Woodbridge, Suffolk
Died 8 June 1984(1984-06-08) (aged 83)
Citizenship United Kingdom British
Fields Biology, physical anthropology
Institutions University of Oxford
Alma mater University of Oxford
Thesis Sex studies on mammals (1927)
Doctoral students Jock Marshall

John Randal Baker FRS[1] (23 October 1900 – 8 June 1984) was a biologist, zoologist, and professor at the University of Oxford (where he was the Emeritus Reader in Cytology) in the mid-twentieth century. He is best remembered for his 1974 book, Race, which classifies human races in the same way in which animal subspecies are classified. John Baker received his PhD at the University of Oxford in 1927.

Family

His papers in the Bodleian Library include papers relating to the Indian Mutiny, Ashanti Campaign, Egyptian Campaign of 1882, and other military campaigns of General Sir Archibald Alison, 2nd Baronet, who was J R Baker's maternal grandfather. [2]

Work

In Race, Baker explores, among other things, the nature of civilization, giving 23 criteria by which civilizations may be identified. He explores the relationship between the biological traits and the cultures of five civilizations. Based on these criteria, Baker declared that Mesoamerican societies such as the Aztecs and Maya were not civilizations, and that no indigenous civilizations ever arose in Africa. These claims and the scientific evidence presented were comprehensively challenged in a review by O.A. Ladimeji -"Science, Racism and Social Darwinism" . Baker rejected the methodological relativism that has characterized anthropology since the days of Franz Boas, instead going back to earlier ideas of hereditarianism and cultural evolution.

Together with Michael Polanyi, Baker founded the Society for Freedom in Science in 1940. In March, 1958 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.[3]

Bibliography

See also

References

  1. Willmer, E. N.; Brunet, P. C. J. (1985). "John Randal Baker. 23 October 1900-8 June 1984". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 31: 32. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1985.0002.
  2. Details of papers held in Bodleian
  3. "Library and Archive Catalogue". Royal Society. Retrieved 8 December 2010.

Further reading

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