Compton brought many outstanding faculty to the University, particularly in the sciences, and in so doing began the University’s rise to international stature.ĭuring his original tenure at WUSTL, in his laboratory in the basement of Eads Hall, Compton investigated the dual nature of X-rays. He returned to Washington University in 1945 to become its ninth chancellor and served for eight years. In 1923, he left the University for the University of Chicago, where he made important contributions to cosmic rays physics and later played a major role in World War II’s atomic bomb project as director of the Metallurgical Laboratory. During his three years as a faculty member, Compton did the experimental work that resulted in the Nobel Prize in physics. Rigden, Ph.D., adjunct professor of physics, will discuss the scientific and historical significance of Compton’s experiment.Ĭompton’s association with the University began when he was appointed the Wayman Crow Professor of Physics in Arts & Sciences and chair of the physics department in 1920 - when he was just 28 years old. Friedlander, Ph.D., WUSTL professor of physics in Arts & Sciences, will address “Compton as Chancellor.” And John S. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, where he is engaged in matters of science and technology policy, and in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Rice. and Hermena Hancock Kelly University Professor at Rice University, will discuss “Compton and Science Policy.” Lane also holds appointments as a senior fellow of the James A. Lane, Ph.D., former director of the National Science Foundation and chief science adviser to President Bill Clinton, will begin at 2 p.m. Three talks about Compton, including a keynote address by Neal F. The APS plaque will hang alongside a University plaque just inside the Eads Hall main entrance that marks the building in which Compton discovered the X-ray scattering effect. Prior Professor in the Life Sciences at Princeton University, will present a commemorative plaque to Chancellor Mark S. Hopfield, Ph.D., president-elect of the APS and the Howard A. sites to be the first listed on the APS Register of Historic Sites. The APS Historic Sites Committee selected Washington University along with four other U.S. The latest acknowledgment comes from the American Physical Society (APS), which has designated Washington University - where Compton did his Nobel Prize-winning research on X-rays - as a site of historical significance to physics. Physics and Math Librarian Alison Verbeck organized this exhibition in collaboration with members of the Physics faculty and University Archivist Sonya Rooney in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Compton Effect.Physicist Arthur Holly Compton, Ph.D., the University’s first faculty member to receive a Nobel Prize (1927), is still getting recognition for his groundbreaking research more than 40 years after his death. This exhibition celebrates Compton and the 100th anniversary of the Compton Effect. He served as chancellor of Washington University in St. Compton is known for leadership over the Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago during the Manhattan Project. As demonstrated by Compton, this proof that light cannot be explained purely as a wave phenomenon is known as the Compton Effect.Ĭompton’s discovery stimulated the development of quantum mechanics and earned him the Nobel Prize in 1927 for his research. This research provided the first proof that x-rays – formerly thought to be waves – could also behave as particles, confirming a long-standing, but largely ignored prediction by Albert Einstein. The idea that light had both wave and particle properties was not readily accepted at the time.Ĭompton, through his research, explained that each ray behaved as a particle, conserving energy and momentum in collisions with electrons. Kranzberg Art & Architecture Library Special CollectionsĪrthur Holly Compton (Septem– March 15, 1962) was an American physicist who conducted groundbreaking research in Eads Hall here at Washington University in the 1920s.Īs head of the Department of Physics in 1922, Compton conducted x-ray scattering experiments demonstrating electromagnetic radiation’s particle nature.Scholarly Communication & Digital Publishing Services.Kenneth and Nancy Kranzberg Art & Architecture Library.Special Collections Research Guidelines.Special Collections Collection Development Policy.
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