Joe Baker

Joseph Thomas Baker (19 June 1932 – 16 January 2018) was an Australian marine scientist and rugby league footballer. Academic career Born and raised in Warwick, Queensland, Baker moved to Brisbane in 1950 to commence studies at the University of Queensland and to take up a cadetship with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. Baker achieved a Bachelor of Science, majoring in organic chemistry before continuing on to study for his master's degree. In 1956, he was appointed a demonstrator at the University of Queensland's chemistry department. When the University of Queensland opened a campus in Townsville in 1961, Baker became a foundation lecturer in the chemistry department, becoming an associate professor when the campus became James Cook University in 1970.