Swarthmore College Philosophy Professor Alan Baker Awarded 2026 Guggenheim Fellowship

Academic Distinction in Philosophy

Swarthmore College Professor of Philosophy Alan Baker has been awarded a 2026 Guggenheim Fellowship by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Baker was named as part of the foundation's 101st class of fellows, selected through a peer-review process from a pool of nearly 5,000 applicants.

He is one of 223 scholars, artists, and scientists recognized across all disciplines in 2026, and one of only three scholars selected specifically within the field of philosophy.

Research Focus and Sabbatical Project

The fellowship provides funding that will enable Baker to take a full-year sabbatical leave during the 2026–2027 academic year. His work will focus on completing a monograph dedicated to mathematical explanation in science.

Baker’s primary research operates at the intersection of the philosophy of mathematics and the philosophy of science. Working within the framework of mathematical platonism, his research examines how abstract mathematical theoretical structures function to explain physical phenomena in the natural world.

Institutional Legacy

Baker has served on the Swarthmore College faculty since 2003. The award represents a significant institutional milestone for the college, making Baker only the second Swarthmore philosophy professor to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship in the history of the department, following Monroe Beardsley, who was named a fellow in 1950.

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation awards fellowships annually based on prior achievement and exceptional promise in academic and artistic fields.