Arthur H Compton

Compton, Arthur H. (Holly)

(1892–1962) physicist; born in Wooster, Ohio. He studied and taught at Cambridge and several American universities before joining the University of Chicago (1923–45). He shared the 1927 Nobel Prize in physics for his determination of the increased wavelength of X-rays and gamma rays due to photon and electron scattering, now known as the Compton effect. In spite of his religious doubts, he played a major part in developing the atomic bomb. Compton became chancellor of Washington University, St. Louis, Mo. (1945–54), and remained there until 1961.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.