Emma Sophia Baker

Emma Sophia Baker ((1856-02-27)February 27, 1856 – (1943-10-26)October 26, 1943)[1] was a Canadian psychologist.[1] In 1903, she became the first person to earn a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Toronto, and one of the first two women to earn a Ph.D. from that institution (the other being chemist Clara Benson).[2][3]

Emma Sophia Baker
Born(1856-02-27)February 27, 1856
Milton, Ontario
DiedOctober 26, 1943(1943-10-26) (aged 87)
Toronto, Ontario
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Toronto
Academic work
DisciplinePsychology
InstitutionsMount Allison University
Maryland College for Women

Biography

Baker was born in Milton, Ontario, in 1856.[1] She attended Newmarket High School in Newmarket; Toronto Normal School; and Albert College, in Belleville.[1] She taught and served as a principal at a number of girls' schools, including Dickenson's Seminary (now Lycoming College) in Pennsylvania, and Presbyterian Ladies' College in Toronto.[1][2]

For her Ph.D. in philosophy (psychology was considered a subdiscipline of philosophy at the time), Baker worked under the supervision of August Kirschmann, a German-born psychologist who led the psychology laboratory at the University of Toronto.[2][4] In the laboratory, Baker conducted experiments on the aesthetics of colours. She published two of her experiments in the laboratory's in-house publication, called the University of Toronto Studies, Psychological Series: first, “Experiments on the aesthetic of light and colour: On combinations of two colours," and second, “Experiments on the aesthetic of light and colour: Spectrally pure colours in binary combinations."[2] Baker's doctoral dissertation consisted of the two reports.[1] She was awarded her Ph.D. in 1903.[1][2]

From 1901 until 1914, Baker worked at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, first as the lady principal of the Ladies' College, then as vice-principal of the institution.[2] From 1914 until her retirement in 1928, she held a professorship in Psychology, Ethics and Economics at the Maryland College for Women in Lutherville, Maryland.[2][5]

Baker later returned to Toronto. She died on October 26, 1943, at age 87.[1][6] She was buried in London, Ontario.[2]

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References
  1. Creese, Mary R.S.; Creese, Thomas M. (2010). Ladies in the laboratory III : South African, Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian women in science : nineteenth and early twentieth centuries : a survey of their contributions. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-7289-9. OCLC 659564120.
  2. Smirle, Corinne (2012). "Emma Sophia Baker - Psychology's Feminist Voices". www.feministvoices.com. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
  3. "Clara Cynthia Benson, 1875-1964 · Making History: contributions of faculty members in science and medicine · Exhibits". exhibits.library.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 2019-12-18.
  4. Weidenhammer, Erich (2016-11-14). "August Kirschmann and the Material Culture of Colour in Toronto's Early Psychological Laboratory". Scientia Canadensis. 38 (2): 1–19. doi:10.7202/1037945ar. ISSN 1918-7750.
  5. "College for women to open Oct. 1". The Baltimore Sun. 1913-09-27. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  6. "Aged teacher dies in Toronto". The Indiana Gazette. 1943-10-27. p. 1. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
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