Walter Ransom Gail Baker

Walter Ransom Gail Baker (born November 30, 1892 in Lockport (City, New York) in the US state of New York ; † October 30, 1960 ) was an American electrical engineer and is the founder of the National Television Systems Committee (NTSC) founded in 1940 , the organization that introduced the NTSC analog color television standard of the same name in the USA.

Baker studied electrical engineering at Union College , graduating in 1916 with a Bachelor of Science and 1919 with a Master of Science . This was followed by professional activities at General Electric, where he was product manager for tube radios , from 1929 at the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), from 1935 back at General Electric. At the same time, he was director of the Radio Manufacturers Association (RMA), now the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA), in the 1930s . As part of the RMA, the first standardization efforts in the field of color television took place in the 1930s, such as the selection of frequency bands, the required bandwidth or the number of lines used. Under the leadership of Baker, the standardization bodies for the new US television standard, with the participation of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), were transferred to the newly formed National Television Systems Committee in the early 1940s. In 1947 he became chairman of the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE), a predecessor organization to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) founded in 1963 . Professionally, he remained employed at General Electric until his retirement in 1957, he died in 1960.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Walter Baker. IEEE Global History Network, accessed October 28, 2014 . 
2. ^ Donald G. Fink: The Forces at Work Behind the NTSC Standards, a paper presented at the 122nd annual SMPTE Technical Conference, November 1980, New York. SMPTE, accessed October 28, 2014 .