David Hiram Baker (February 26, 1939 – December 2, 2009) was an American animal nutritionist who was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 2005.

[3] In 1987, he received the National Academy of Sciences' Distinguished Service Award.

Black Award by the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST).

[5] Baker earned a Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1965; his thesis was titled Qualitative and Quantitative Evaluation of the Amino Acid Needs of Adult Swine for Maintenance.

[6] He then spent two years as a senior scientist with the Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis, Indiana, then returned to join the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign faculty in the Department of Animal Sciences and Division of Nutritional Sciences, where he remained for the rest of his career.