University of Michigan

Baldwin Makes Impact on Astronomy with New Professorship

Whether developing a secret weapon during World War II or studying the origin of moon craters, Dr. Ralph Baldwin (AB ’34, MA ’35, Ph.D ’37), of Grand Rapids, Mich., has always stretched the boundaries of knowledge. Now he will propel future discoveries through a $2 million gift endowing the Ralph B. Baldwin Professorship in Astronomy at the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA). The endowed chair—the Department’s first—has been conferred on Professor and former department chair Hugh D. Aller.

During World War II, Ralph Baldwin worked as a senior physicist in the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, where he helped develop the radio proximity fuze, a crucial secret weapon of the war. His work on the project earned him the Presidential Certificate of Merit, among other honors. A lifelong astronomer, after the war Baldwin put forward his theory that lunar craters were caused by meteoritic impacts rather than volcanic activity. This innovative idea was initially dismissed by specialists, but later confirmed by the eyewitness accounts of the Apollo astronauts. Today, Ralph Baldwin is highly regarded in the scientific community because, as the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada has noted, “he got so much so right, so early.”

Baldwin later returned to Grand Rapids to run his family business, the Oliver Machinery Company. His numerous gifts to LSA and the College of Engineering include generous support for the Ralph B. Baldwin Prize in Astrophysics and Space Science, awarded to a recent U-M Ph.D who has made an original and significant contribution to the field through their scholarly publications.

“The University has been great to me,” Baldwin said. “I wanted to give something back.” His latest gift does just that, helping Michigan Astronomy attract and retain some of the discipline’s scientific stars.

Dr. Ralph Baldwin (AB ’34, MA ’35, Ph.D ’37)