Arthur Compton biography

1. BIOGRAPHY ON ARTHUR COMPTON

2. Arthur Holly Compton was an American
physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics
in 1927 for his 1923 discovery of the
Compton effect. He 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.
Early life
Arthur Compton was born on September 10, 1892, in Wooster, Ohio, the
son of Elias and Otelia Catherine Compton, who was named American
Mother of the Year in 1939.[2] They were an academic family. He and his
two brothers Karl and Wilson were members of the Alpha Tau Omega
fraternity.He also had a sister named Mary.

3. In June 1916, Compton married
Betty Charity McCloskey, a
Wooster classmate and fellow
graduate.[9] They had two sons,
Arthur Alan Compton and John
Joseph Compton.
Family

4. Education
Elias was dean of the University of
Wooster (later the College of Wooster),
which Arthur also attended. He graduated
from Wooster with a Bachelor of Science
degree and entered Princeton, where he
received his Master of Arts degree in
1914.[7] Compton then studied for his PhD
in physics under the supervision of
Hereward L. Cooke, writing his
dissertation on The Intensity of X-Ray
Reflection, and the Distribution of the
Electrons in Atoms.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

5. Career
Compton spent a year as a physics instructor at the
University of Minnesota in 1916–17, then two years
as a research engineer with the Westinghouse Lamp
Company in Pittsburgh, where he worked on the
development of the sodium-vapor lamp. In 1923,
Compton moved to the University of Chicago as
professor of physics,a position he would occupy for
the next 22 years. After the war ended, Compton
resigned his chair as Charles H. Swift Distinguished
Service Professor of Physics at the University of
Chicago and returned to Washington University in
St. Louis, where he was inaugurated as the
university's ninth chancellor in 1946.

6. Compton retired as chancellor in 1954, but remained on the faculty as
Distinguished Service Professor of Natural Philosophy until his
retirement from the full-time faculty in 1961. In retirement he wrote
Atomic Quest, a personal account of his role in the Manhattan
Project, which was published in 1956.
Compton’s house in Chicago
Compton at University in Chicago

7. Compton Effect
Returning to the United States,
Compton was appointed Wayman Crow
Professor of Physics, and head of the
Department of Physics at Washington
University in St. Louis in 1920. In 1922, he
found that X-ray quanta scattered by free
electrons had longer wavelengths and, in
accordance with Planck’s relation, less
energy than the incoming X-rays, the
surplus energy having been transferred to
the electrons. This discovery, known as the
“Compton effect” or “Compton scattering”,
demonstrated the particle concept of
electromagnetic radiation.

8. His paper concludes by reporting on experiments that verified his derived
relation:
The quantity is known as the Compton wavelength of the electron; it is equal to 2.43×10−12
m. The wavelength shift λ′ − λ lies between zero (for θ = 0°) and twice the Compton
wavelength of the electron (for θ = 180°).[17] He found that some X-rays experienced no
wavelength shift despite being scattered through large angles; in each of these cases the
photon failed to eject an electron.
The wave nature of light had been well demonstrated, and the idea that it could have a dual
nature was not easily accepted. It was particularly telling that diffraction in a crystal
lattice could only be explained with reference to its wave nature. It earned Compton the
Nobel Prize in Physics in 1927.

9. Compton's first book, X-Rays and Electrons, was
published in 1926. In it he showed how to
calculate the densities of diffracting materials
from their X-ray diffraction patterns. He revised
his book with the help of Samuel K to produce X-
Rays in Theory and Experiment . This work
remained a standard reference for the next
three decades.
Compton received many awards in his lifetime,
including the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1927, the
Matteucci Gold Medal in 1930, the Royal Society’s
Hughes Medal and the Franklin Institute’s
Franklin Medal in 1940. He is commemorated in
various ways. Compton crater on the Moon is co-
named for Compton and his brother Karl.The
physics research building at Washington
University in St Louis is named in his honor as is
the university’s top fellowship for undergraduate
Books and Awards

10. Death and Legacy
Compton died in Berkeley, California, from a cerebral
hemorrhage on March 15, 1962. He was survived by his wife
(who died in 1980) and sons. Compton is buried in the
Wooster Cemetery in Wooster, Ohio.[10] Before his death,
he was professor-at-large at the University of California,
Berkeley for spring 1962.
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