In Memoriam of Carl Edward Baum (1940–2010)
His ideas kept flowing like a mighty river.

Carl Edward Baum

Carl Baum, mentor to many, took his last breath peacefully on December 2, 2010 in Albuquerque, NM. Carl was born in Binghamton, New York, on February 6, 1940. He received his B.S. (with honors), M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA in 1962, 1963, and 1969, respectively. Following his B.S., he received his commission in the Air Force and was stationed at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory at Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque, NM. He served from 1963 until 1971 as an officer, and then accepted a civilian position and retired as a Senior Scientist in 2005. Since his retirement from USAF, he was a Distinguished Professor in the Department of ECE at the University of New Mexico.
     During his military career, he was awarded the Air Force Research and Development Award and the Air Force Nomination to Ten Outstanding Young Men of America. In a career that spanned five decades, this remarkably creative engineer introduced innumerable new concepts in mathematics, electromagnetic theory and system design, many of which remain the standards of excellence today. From his earliest designs in EMP sensors and simulators to the latest developments in high-power microwave and ultra-wideband antenna and system design, Dr. Carl Baum’s research has remained ever on the forefront of technology. His advances in EM theory have left an indelible mark and a lasting legacy on the technical world and have led to much of what we do today in EMP, HPM, and Target ID.
     His scientific contributions were prodigious. He has written innumerable technical notes, articles, books, and presentations and was the editor of the Note Series that has published state-of-the-art research results for the past 45 years. He received the Richard R. Stoddart award of the IEEE EMC Society (1984), the Harry Diamond Memorial Award (1987), the AFSC Harold Brown Award (1990), and the Air Force Basic Research Award (Honorable Mention) in 1999. In addition, he has received five Best Paper Awards from the AMEREM/EUROEM Awards Committee, and he and his research team were honored as an AFOSR Star Team for 2000-2002 and received the first annual R. Earl Good Award from AFRL (2004) for their work in target identification. He was named an IEEE Fellow in 1984, an EMP Fellow in 1986, and the first Air Force Research Laboratory Fellow in 1996, but the honors that meant the most to him came in July of 2004 when he was bestowed with an Honorary Doctorate of Engineering by the Otto von Guericke University in Magdeburg, Germany during EUROEM 2004 and received a special honor from his colleagues in Russia for his lifetime of achievements. He received the IEEE John Kraus Antenna Award (2006) and also the Electromagnetics Award from the IEEE (2007). He was a member of Commissions A, B, & E of the U.S. National Committee of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI) and established the SUMMA Foundation which sponsors various electromagnetics-related activities including scientific conferences, publications, short courses, fellowships, and awards. He has led EMP short courses and HPE workshops around the globe. Dr. Baum was an active organizer of scientific conferences and workshops that brought together researchers from all over the United States and the world to share the latest in electromagnetic research.
     When not putting his new ideas in mathematics and electromagnetics (EM) into new technical notes or organizing meetings, Dr. Baum enjoyed playing the piano and creating his own musical compositions, many of which have been heard at the biennial AMEREM and EUROEM conferences. His compositions can also be heard at one of the many churches in Albuquerque that host the annual concerts of the Albuquerque Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and even at his own church where he used to be the choir director. Twenty-three of these compositions have been recorded.
     Carl is survived by his two nephews and sister-in-law, George, Spencer, and Martha Baum of Albuquerque.                                                   EMC