Ralph Belknap Baldwin

Who was Ralph Belknap Baldwin?

Ralph Belknap Baldwin was an American planetary scientist known for his work on lunar craters, beginning in the late 1940s. His book, The Face of the Moon made the case for the impact nature of lunar craters. He published The Measure of the Moon in 1963.

Prior to his lunar work he was Senior Physicist at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory during World War II working on the Proximity fuze. In 1947 he began working for Oliver Machinery Company. In 1970 he became president of the company and chairman of the board in 1982. He retired in 1984. He died on October 23, 2010.