Carl Edward Baum was born on February 6, 1940 in
Binghamton, New York. His father was a construction engineer at
Carrier Global, and he spent his childhood in
Atlanta,
Syracuse, and
Rochester. He completed his high school education at
Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse, and was subsequently admitted to
California Institute of Technology, where he played college football in addition to his studies. He received his bachelor's, masters, and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from Caltech in 1962, 1963, and 1969, respectively. He was advised by
Charles H. Papas during his doctoral studies. Following his undergraduate degree, he joined the
United States Air Force, being stationed at the
Air Force Research Laboratory at
Kirtland Air Force Base from 1963 until 1971 as an officer. After his tenure as a military officer, he became a civilian research scientist at the institution, where he resumed his work until his retirement as a senior research engineer in 2005. Following his retirement from Air Force Research Laboratory, he joined Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at
University of New Mexico. From 1960s until his death, he was the editor of the
Notes series, which featured technical contributions and reports on electromagnetics and high-power microwaves from various collaborators. In 1984, he established SUMMA Foundation, a
nonprofit organization that awards grants to young scientists in the field of electromagnetics, as well as sponsoring short courses, symposia, and the book publications. Becoming an IEEE fellow in 1984, Baum was also the member of Commissions A, B and E of the U.S. National Committee of the
International Union of Radio Science. He was also a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society, and has led short courses and workshops on high-power electromagnetics at numerous countries during his career. In 2004, he was awarded an
Honorary Doctorate of Engineering from
Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg. In 2006, he received the John Kraus Antenna Award from the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society for "the development of novel and innovative ultra-wideband antenna concepts." In 2007, he received
IEEE Electromagnetics Award for "contributions to fundamental principles and techniques in electromagnetics." Among his colleagues, Baum was also known for his interest in music: having studied piano and
baritone horn as a youth, he continued playing the piano and creating his own musical compositions during his adult life. He was a practising
Roman Catholic, and acted as the choir director of his church in
Albuquerque, New Mexico. He died on December 2, 2010 in Albuquerque, due to complications from a
stroke. ==Research==