Academic Hood of Richard P. Baker

This hood belonged to to Richard Philip Baker (1866–1937) who received his PhD in mathematics from the University of Chicago in 1910. The color of the velvet on the hood represents the type of doctorate awarded, with dark blue used for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The color of the reverse (interior) side of the hood, maroon, represents the school that awarded the degree, i.e., the University of Chicago whose colors are maroon and white. A matching hood (1985.0820.03) was acquired by Baker’s daughter, Frances Ellen Baker (1902–1995), when she was awarded a PhD in mathematics from Chicago in 1934.

R. P. Baker’s doctoral dissertation, The Problem of the Angle-Bisectors (1985.3145.01), was directed by E. H. Moore, while his daughter Frances’s doctoral dissertation, A Contribution to the Waring Problem for Cubic Functions, was directed by L. E. Dickson, E. H. Moore’s first doctoral student. R. P. Baker’s younger daughter, Gladys Elizabeth Baker (1908-2007) earned a doctorate, in botany and mycology from Washington University in St. Louis in 1935.

R. P. Baker is best known in the mathematical community for constructing mathematical models that he believed were necessary for the proper teaching of geometry. His 1931 catalog offered several hundred models. Several museum accessions include models made by Baker. See MA.211257.04 for a description of one of these models.

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