# David Baker

_American biochemist and computational biologist (born 1962)_

Canonical: https://diginpl.com/people/david-baker
Last updated: 2026-10-31

> David Baker (born October 6, 1962) is an American biochemist and computational biologist who has pioneered methods to design proteins and predict their three-dimensional structures. He is the Henrietta and Aubrey Davis Endowed Professor in Biochemistry, an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and an adjunct professor of genome sciences, bioengineering, chemical engineering, computer science, and physics at the University of Washington. He was awarded the shared 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on computational protein design.

## Quick facts

- **Born:** 6 October 1962 ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3814528#P569))
- **Place of birth:** Seattle ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3814528#P19))
- **Citizenship:** United States ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3814528#P27))
- **Occupation:** bioinformatician; biochemist; university teacher; computational biologist; biochemistry teacher ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3814528#P106))
- **Education:** University of California, Berkeley; University of California, San Francisco ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3814528#P69))
- **Spouse:** Hannele Ruohola-Baker ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3814528#P26))
- **Official website:** sites.uw.edu/biochemistry/faculty/david-baker ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3814528#P856))
- **Awards:** Overton Prize; Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology; Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering; Nobel Prize in Chemistry; Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences; Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3814528#P166))

## About

Baker is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences and of the United States National Academy of Engineering, and is the director of the University of Washington's Institute for Protein Design. He has co-founded more than a dozen biotechnology companies and was included in Time magazine's inaugural list of the 100 Most Influential People in health in 2024. As of October 2026, Baker's research group at the University of Washington includes over 50 graduate students and 150 active lab members, as well as another 200 previous trainees and alumni.

## Questions

**When was David Baker born?**  
David Baker was born on 6 October 1962 in Seattle.

**Where did David Baker study?**  
David Baker was educated at University of California, Berkeley, University of California, San Francisco.

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## Sources

- [Wikipedia (English): David Baker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Baker_(biochemist)) — [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
- [Wikidata item Q3814528](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3814528) — [CC0 1.0](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- [Image: David Baker, 2024 Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry 4 (cropped).jpg by John Sears (CC BY-SA 4.0)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:David_Baker,_2024_Nobel_Prize_Laureate_in_Chemistry_4_(cropped).jpg)

## Licence and attribution

Text from the Wikipedia article David Baker, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page's text is shared under the same licence. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: David Baker, 2024 Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry 4 (cropped).jpg — John Sears, CC BY-SA 4.0.

## Cite this page

"David Baker". DigiNepal. Last updated 31 October 2026. https://diginpl.com/people/david-baker. Retrieved 14 November 2026.