John Baker (biologist)
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Dr. '''John Randal Baker''' [[Royal Society|F.R.S.]] ([[1900]]-[[1984]]) was a [[biology|biologist]], [[physical anthropology|physical anthropologist]], and professor at the [[University of Oxford]] (where he was the [[Emeritus Reader]] in [[Cytology]]) in the mid-twentieth century. He is best remembered for his 1974 book ''[[Race (book)|Race]]'', which attempts to classify human [[Race (classification of human beings)|races]] in the same way that animal [[subspecies]] are classified.
In ''Race'', Baker explores the nature of [[civilization]], giving 23 criteria that can readily identify them. He explores relations between the physical/biological traits and the cultures of five civilizations. Based on these criteria, Baker declared that Mesoamerican societies such as the [[Aztec]]s and [[Maya civilization|Maya]] were not civilizations, and that no [[autochthonous|indigenous civilizations]] ever arose in [[Africa]]. Baker rejected the [[methodological relativism]] that has characterized anthropology since the days of [[Franz Boas]], instead going back to earlier ideas of [[hereditarianism]] and [[cultural evolution]].
==Works==
* ''Sex in man and animals'' ... with a preface by [[Julian S. Huxley]], [[1926]]
* ''Man and animals in the New Hebrides'', 1929
* ''Cytological technique'', [[1933]]
* ''Biology in everyday life'', 1934
* ''Chemical control of conception'', with a chapter by [[H. M. Carleton]], [[1935]]
* ''Scientific life'', 1942
* ''Science and the planned state'', [[1945]]
* ''Discovery of the uses of colouring agents in biological micro-technique'', 1945
* ''Path of science'', by [[C.E. Kenneth Mees]] ... with the cooperation of John R. Baker ... 1946
* ''Principles of biological microtechnique; a study of fixation and dyeing'', [[1958]]
* ''Cytological technique; the principles underlying routine methods'', 1960
* ''Cell structure and its interpretation''; essays presented to John Randal Baker, [[Royal Society|F.R.S.]] Edited by S. M. McGee-Russell and K. F. A. Ross, 1968
* ''Race'', [[1974]]
* ''Evolution : the modern synthesis'' by [[Julian Huxley]] ; with a new introd. edited by John R. Baker, 1974
* ''Freedom of science'', [[1975]]
* ''Julian Huxley, scientist and world citizen, 1887 to 1975 : a biographical memoir'', with a bibliography compiled by [[Jens-Peter Green]], [[1978]]
* ''Biology of parasitic protozoa'', 1982
* ''Cell theory : a restatement, history, and critique'', [[1988]]
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[[Category:British biologists]]
[[Category:1900 births]]
[[Category:1984 deaths]]
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