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Arthur Compton
Arthur Compton 1927.jpg
Arthur Compton in 1927
BornArthur Holly Compton
September 10, 1892
Wooster, Ohio, United States
DiedMarch 15, 1962 (aged 69)
Berkeley, California, United States
NationalityAmerican
Alma materCollege of Wooster
Princeton University
Known forCompton scattering
Compton wavelength
Spouse(s)Betty Charity McCloskey (d. 1980)
ChildrenArthur Alan
John Joseph
AwardsNobel Prize for Physics (1927)
Matteucci Medal (1930)
Franklin Medal (1940)
Hughes Medal (1940)
Medal for Merit (1946)
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics
InstitutionsWashington University in St. Louis
University of Chicago
University of Minnesota
Doctoral advisorHereward L. Cooke
Doctoral studentsLuis Walter Alvarez
Winston H. Bostick
Robert S. Shankland
Wu Youxun
Signature
Arthur Compton signature.png
Notes

Arthur Holly Compton (September 10, 1892 – March 15, 1962) was an American physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1927 for his 1923 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. He is also known for his leadership of the Manhattan Project's Metallurgical Laboratory, 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 Cambridge University'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. He 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 up 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 head of 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.

Early life