Kenneth M. Baird

Who is Kenneth M. Baird?

Kenneth MacClure Baird, BSc., Ph.D., is a physicist, metrologist and inventor, born of Canadian parents in China in 1923. He received his Bachelor of Science in physics at the University of New Brunswick, Canada in 1943, and joined the Canadian National Research Council in Ottawa where he excelled at research in aerial reconnaissance and high speed photography, thereby earning him full NRC financial support for graduate studies at Bristol University, England where he acquired his Ph.D. in solid state physics in 1952.

Returning to the NRC, Baird headed the transition of Canada’s primary length standard/facilities of the International Meter from a prototype metal bar to a wavelength of light. His contribution to the development of isotope lamps, on perturbations to wavelength standards, and in interferometry placed Canada among the main contributors to the redefinition of the International Meter in 1960.

Baird also maintained Canada’s primary standard of mass as well as length, and standards for quantities derived from them, such as density, pressure, vacuum and certain engineering standards. For much of this work Baird engaged the industrial community, producing results such as the first commercially produced internal reflector laser, manufactured by E. Leitz Company. In 1973, Baird and his colleagues invented an important interference device designed for the security of valuable documents, subsequently used on Canadian monetary bills thus establishing a new standard for currency anti-counterfeiting.