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Arthur Compton
Arthur Holly Compton (September 10, 1892 – March 15, 1962) was an American experimental physicist who shared the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physics with C. T. R. Wilson for his discovery of the Compton effect, which demonstrated the particle nature of electromagnetic radiation. It was a sensational discovery at the time: the wave nature of light had been well-demonstrated, but the idea that light had both wave and particle properties was not easily accepted.
Compton is also known for his leadership over the Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago during the Manhattan Project, and served as chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis from 1945 to 1953.
In 1919, Compton was awarded one of the first two National Research Council Fellowships that allowed students to study abroad. He chose to go to the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory in England, where he studied the scattering and absorption of gamma rays. Further research along these lines led to the discovery of the Compton effect.
Compton used X-rays to investigate ferromagnetism, concluding that it was a result of the alignment of electron spins, and studied cosmic rays, discovering that they were made principally of positively charged particles.
During World War II, Compton was a key figure in the Manhattan Project that developed the first nuclear weapons. His reports were important in launching the project. In 1942, he became a member of the Executive Committee, and then head of the "X" projects overseeing the Metallurgical Laboratory, with responsibility for producing nuclear reactors to convert uranium into plutonium, finding ways to separate the plutonium from the uranium and to design an atomic bomb. Compton oversaw Enrico Fermi's creation of Chicago Pile-1, the first nuclear reactor, which went critical on December 2, 1942. The Metallurgical Laboratory was also responsible for the design and operation of the X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Plutonium began being produced in the Hanford Site reactors in 1945.
After the war, Compton became chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis. During his tenure, the university formally desegregated its undergraduate divisions, named its first female full professor, and enrolled a record number of students after wartime veterans returned to the United States.
Arthur Holly Compton was born on September 10, 1892, in Wooster, Ohio, the son of Elias Compton and Otelia Catherine Augspurger, who was named American Mother of the Year in 1939 and was of German Mennonite descent. They were an academic family. Elias was Dean of the University of Wooster (now the College of Wooster), which Arthur also attended. Arthur's eldest brother, Karl, who also attended Wooster, earned a Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University in 1912, and was President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1930 to 1948. His second brother, Wilson, likewise attended Wooster, earned his Ph.D. in economics from Princeton in 1916 and was President of the State College of Washington (now Washington State University) from 1944 to 1951. All three brothers were members of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.
Compton was initially interested in astronomy, and took a photograph of Halley's Comet in 1910. Around 1913, he described an experiment where an examination of the motion of water in a circular tube demonstrated the rotation of the earth, a device now known as the Compton generator. That year, he graduated from Wooster with a B.S. and entered Princeton, where he received his M.A. in 1914. Compton then studied for his Ph.D. in physics under the supervision of Hereward L. Cooke, writing his thesis on The Intensity of X-Ray Reflection, and the Distribution of the Electrons in Atoms.
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Arthur Compton
Arthur Holly Compton (September 10, 1892 – March 15, 1962) was an American experimental physicist who shared the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physics with C. T. R. Wilson for his discovery of the Compton effect, which demonstrated the particle nature of electromagnetic radiation. It was a sensational discovery at the time: the wave nature of light had been well-demonstrated, but the idea that light had both wave and particle properties was not easily accepted.
Compton is also known for his leadership over the Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago during the Manhattan Project, and served as chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis from 1945 to 1953.
In 1919, Compton was awarded one of the first two National Research Council Fellowships that allowed students to study abroad. He chose to go to the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory in England, where he studied the scattering and absorption of gamma rays. Further research along these lines led to the discovery of the Compton effect.
Compton used X-rays to investigate ferromagnetism, concluding that it was a result of the alignment of electron spins, and studied cosmic rays, discovering that they were made principally of positively charged particles.
During World War II, Compton was a key figure in the Manhattan Project that developed the first nuclear weapons. His reports were important in launching the project. In 1942, he became a member of the Executive Committee, and then head of the "X" projects overseeing the Metallurgical Laboratory, with responsibility for producing nuclear reactors to convert uranium into plutonium, finding ways to separate the plutonium from the uranium and to design an atomic bomb. Compton oversaw Enrico Fermi's creation of Chicago Pile-1, the first nuclear reactor, which went critical on December 2, 1942. The Metallurgical Laboratory was also responsible for the design and operation of the X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Plutonium began being produced in the Hanford Site reactors in 1945.
After the war, Compton became chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis. During his tenure, the university formally desegregated its undergraduate divisions, named its first female full professor, and enrolled a record number of students after wartime veterans returned to the United States.
Arthur Holly Compton was born on September 10, 1892, in Wooster, Ohio, the son of Elias Compton and Otelia Catherine Augspurger, who was named American Mother of the Year in 1939 and was of German Mennonite descent. They were an academic family. Elias was Dean of the University of Wooster (now the College of Wooster), which Arthur also attended. Arthur's eldest brother, Karl, who also attended Wooster, earned a Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University in 1912, and was President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1930 to 1948. His second brother, Wilson, likewise attended Wooster, earned his Ph.D. in economics from Princeton in 1916 and was President of the State College of Washington (now Washington State University) from 1944 to 1951. All three brothers were members of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.
Compton was initially interested in astronomy, and took a photograph of Halley's Comet in 1910. Around 1913, he described an experiment where an examination of the motion of water in a circular tube demonstrated the rotation of the earth, a device now known as the Compton generator. That year, he graduated from Wooster with a B.S. and entered Princeton, where he received his M.A. in 1914. Compton then studied for his Ph.D. in physics under the supervision of Hereward L. Cooke, writing his thesis on The Intensity of X-Ray Reflection, and the Distribution of the Electrons in Atoms.