James Phinney Baxter III (February 15, 1893 in Portland, Maine – June 17, 1975 in Williamstown, Massachusetts) was an American historian, educator, and academic, who won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for History for his book Scientists Against Time (1946).
He attended Portland High School and Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, followed by Williams College, where he was graduated as valedictorian with Phi Beta Kappa honors, was a member of Kappa Alpha Society, and served as president of the Gargoyle Society.
Baxter taught at Colorado College and then at Harvard, progressing from instructor to full professor in 10 years.
[4] Baxter left Williams for a few years during World War II while he served as research coordinator of information (1941–1943) and director of the Office of Strategic Services (1942–1943).
In 1943 he was the part-time official historian of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, where he wrote Scientists Against Time.