Baird, William M. (William Martyn), 1862-1931

Soldier during the War of 1812.

Born in Macon, Georgia, William Baird completed his freshman and sophomore years at Emory University's Oxford College and his B.A. degree in physics at Emory College, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. At Georgia Institute of Technology, Dr. Baird completed M.S. and Ph.D degrees in physics and an M.S. degree in electrical engineering. Baird pursued further study at St. John's College, Annapolis and Santa Fe, and at several Chautauqua/National Science Foundation short courses. He has co-authored five articles in the field of atomic collisions and four in applied optics, and is co-inventor of Technique for Producing Antireflection Grating Surfaces on Dielectrics, Semiconductors, and Metals," Patent Number 5007708. He is also a recipient of a NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. He has taught at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Eckerd College, and since 1975 has taught at Oxford College. William Baird's mother was Addie Rie Baird and maternal grandparents Anna Belle McCrory McKellar and Idus Eugene McKellar (1880-1970). Idus Eugene McKellar's parents were Ella Columbia Hand (1852-1930) and Henry Hearst McKellar (1852-1913) and he had two siblings: Harry Rex McKellar (1878-1956) and Ella Clare McKellar (1887-1982).