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 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. 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 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 (September 10, 1892 – March 15, 1962) was an American physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1927 for his 1923 discovery...
by ArthurCompton in 1923 in his explanation of the scattering of photons by electrons (a process known as Compton scattering). The standard Compton wavelength...
space, following the Hubble Space Telescope. The CGRO was named after ArthurCompton, an American physicist and former chancellor of Washington University...
by Arthur Holly Compton while researching the scattering of X-rays by light elements, and earned him the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1927. The Compton effect...
Taylor Compton was born in Wooster, Ohio, on September 14, 1887, the eldest of three brothers (including ArthurCompton and Wilson Martindale Compton) and...
1998). Compton was a president of the Metaphysical Society of America (1979). He was the son of ArthurCompton. Patterson, Jim. "John Compton, charter...
a cosmic ray telescope, and under the aegis of his faculty advisor ArthurCompton, conducted an experiment in Mexico City to measure the so-called East–West...
his own research into uranium. He in turn spoke to James B. Conant, Arthur H. Compton and George B. Pegram. Oliphant's mission was therefore a success;...
gyroscope devices. ArthurCompton (Nobel Prize in Physics in 1927) published it during his fourth year at the College of Wooster in 1913. A Compton generator is...
(1918–2003), American actor Arthur Cayley (1822–1895), British mathematician Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008), British writer ArthurCompton (1892–1962), American...
photon derives from the Greek word for light, φῶς (transliterated phôs). ArthurCompton used photon in 1928, referring to Gilbert N. Lewis, who coined the term...
sure old Nobel would approve." In March 1940, ArthurCompton, Vannevar Bush, James B. Conant, Karl T. Compton, and Alfred Lee Loomis traveled to Berkeley...
October 1882, University of the Punjab was established. Prof. ArthurCompton, who discovered Compton effect used to be an appointed lecturer in the university...
had been directed at producing enriched uranium, but Committee member ArthurCompton determined that a feasible alternative was plutonium, which could be...
on 6 October 2021. Born 1 May 1919 as Alwyne ArthurCompton, son of Major Edward Robert Francis Compton, of Newby Hall, Ripon, Yorkshire, and of Torloisk...
developed two-stage models, including William James, Henri Poincaré, ArthurCompton, and Henry Margenau, Dennett defended this model for the following reasons:...
head of the committee that produced it. The committee was appointed by ArthurCompton and met in secret, in all-night sessions in a highly secure environment...
(1888–1970) William Lawrence Bragg (1890–1971) James Chadwick (1891–1974) ArthurCompton (1892–1962) Pyotr Kapitsa (1894–1984) Charles Drummond Ellis (1895–1980)...
October 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org Nomination archive – Arthur E Kennelly Archived 29 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org...
weapons because of impurities". Conant consulted Ernest Lawrence and ArthurCompton, who acknowledged that their scientists at Berkeley and Chicago, respectively...
plutonium by Glenn Seaborg and Arthur Wahl at the University of California, Berkeley. May 17: A report by ArthurCompton and the National Academy of Sciences...
a new committee member, a talented experimentalist and a protégé of ArthurCompton at the University of Chicago. "Oliphant came to a meeting", Allison...
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