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Arthur Compton

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.

Arthur Compton
Compton in 1927
Born
Arthur Holly Compton

(1892-09-10)September 10, 1892
DiedMarch 15, 1962(1962-03-15) (aged 69)
Alma mater
Known for
Spouse
Betty Charity McCloskey
(m. 1916)
Children
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics
Institutions
Doctoral advisorHereward L. Cooke
Doctoral students
Signature

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 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

 
Compton and Werner Heisenberg in 1929 in Chicago

Arthur Compton was born on September 10, 1892, in Wooster, Ohio, the son of Elias and Otelia Catherine (née Augspurger) Compton,[1] who was named American Mother of the Year in 1939.[2] They were an academic family. Elias was dean of the University of Wooster (later the College of Wooster), which Arthur also attended. Arthur's eldest brother, Karl, who also attended Wooster, earned a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in physics from Princeton University in 1912, and was president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1930 to 1948. His second brother Wilson likewise attended Wooster, earned his PhD in economics from Princeton in 1916 and was president of the State College of Washington, later Washington State University from 1944 to 1951.[3] All three brothers were members of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.[4]

Compton was initially interested in astronomy, and took a photograph of Halley's Comet in 1910.[5] Around 1913, he described an experiment where an examination of the motion of water in a circular tube demonstrated the rotation of the earth, a device now known as the Compton generator.[6] That year, 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.[8]

When Arthur Compton earned his PhD in 1916, he, Karl and Wilson became the first group of three brothers to earn Ph.D.s from Princeton. Later, they would become the first such trio to simultaneously head American colleges.[3] Their sister Mary married a missionary, C. Herbert Rice, who became the principal of Forman Christian College in Lahore.[9] 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.[10]

Compton spent a year as a physics instructor at the University of Minnesota in 1916–17,[11] 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. During World War I he developed aircraft instrumentation for the Signal Corps.[9]

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. Working with George Paget Thomson, the son of J. J. Thomson, Compton studied the scattering and absorption of gamma rays. He observed that the scattered rays were more easily absorbed than the original source.[11][12] Compton was greatly impressed by the Cavendish scientists, especially Ernest Rutherford, Charles Galton Darwin and Arthur Eddington, and he ultimately named his second son after J. J. Thomson.[12]

For a time Compton was a deacon at a Baptist church. "Science can have no quarrel", he said, "with a religion which postulates a God to whom men are as His children."[13]

Career

 
Compton on the cover of Time magazine on January 13, 1936, holding his cosmic ray detector

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.[7] 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.[14][15]

In 1923, Compton published a paper in the Physical Review that explained the X-ray shift by attributing particle-like momentum to photons, something Einstein had invoked for his 1905 Nobel Prize–winning explanation of the photo-electric effect. First postulated by Max Planck in 1900, these were conceptualized as elements of light "quantized" by containing a specific amount of energy depending only on the frequency of the light.[16] In his paper, Compton derived the mathematical relationship between the shift in wavelength and the scattering angle of the X-rays by assuming that each scattered X-ray photon interacted with only one electron. His paper concludes by reporting on experiments that verified his derived relation:

 

where

  is the initial wavelength,
  is the wavelength after scattering,
  is the Planck constant,
  is the electron rest mass,
  is the speed of light, and
  is the scattering angle.[15]

The quantity hmec 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. Thus the magnitude of the shift is related not to the Compton wavelength of the electron, but to the Compton wavelength of the entire atom, which can be upwards of 10,000 times smaller.[15]

"When I presented my results at a meeting of the American Physical Society in 1923", Compton later recalled, "it initiated the most hotly contested scientific controversy that I have ever known."[18] 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. Compton and Alfred W. Simon developed the method for observing at the same instant individual scattered X-ray photons and the recoil electrons. In Germany, Walther Bothe and Hans Geiger independently developed a similar method.[14]

X-rays

 
Compton at the University of Chicago in 1933 with graduate student Luis Alvarez next to his cosmic ray telescope.

In 1923, Compton moved to the University of Chicago as professor of physics,[7] a position he would occupy for the next 22 years.[14] In 1925, he demonstrated that the scattering of 130,000-volt X-rays from the first sixteen elements in the periodic table (hydrogen through sulfur) were polarized, a result predicted by J. J. Thomson. William Duane from Harvard University spearheaded an effort to prove that Compton's interpretation of the Compton effect was wrong. Duane carried out a series of experiments to disprove Compton, but instead found evidence that Compton was correct. In 1924, Duane conceded that this was the case.[14]

Compton investigated the effect of X-rays on the sodium and chlorine nuclei in salt. He used X-rays to investigate ferromagnetism, concluding that it was a result of the alignment of electron spins.[19] In 1926, he became a consultant for the Lamp Department at General Electric. In 1934, he returned to England as Eastman visiting professor at Oxford University. While there, General Electric asked him to report on activities at General Electric Company plc's research laboratory at Wembley. Compton was intrigued by the possibilities of the research there into fluorescent lamps. His report prompted a research program in America that developed it.[20][21]

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.[19] He revised his book with the help of Samuel K. Allison to produce X-Rays in Theory and Experiment (1935). This work remained a standard reference for the next three decades.[22]

Cosmic rays

By the early 1930s, Compton had become interested in cosmic rays. At the time, their existence was known but their origin and nature remained speculative. Their presence could be detected using a spherical "bomb" containing compressed air or argon gas and measuring its electrical conductivity. Trips to Europe, India, Mexico, Peru and Australia gave Compton the opportunity to measure cosmic rays at different altitudes and latitudes. Along with other groups who made observations around the globe, they found that cosmic rays were 15% more intense at the poles than at the equator. Compton attributed this to the effect of cosmic rays being made up principally of charged particles, rather than photons as Robert Millikan had suggested, with the latitude effect being due to Earth's magnetic field.[23]

Manhattan Project

 
Arthur Compton's ID badge from the Hanford Site. For security reasons he used a pseudonym.

In April 1941, Vannevar Bush, head of the wartime National Defense Research Committee (NDRC), created a special committee headed by Compton to report on the NDRC uranium program. Compton's report, which was submitted in May 1941, foresaw the prospects of developing radiological weapons, nuclear propulsion for ships, and nuclear weapons using uranium-235 or the recently discovered plutonium.[24] In October he wrote another report on the practicality of an atomic bomb. For this report, he worked with Enrico Fermi on calculations of the critical mass of uranium-235, conservatively estimating it to be between 20 kilograms (44 lb) and 2 tonnes (2.0 long tons; 2.2 short tons). He also discussed the prospects for uranium enrichment with Harold Urey, spoke with Eugene Wigner about how plutonium might be produced in a nuclear reactor, and with Robert Serber about how the plutonium produced in a reactor might be separated from uranium. His report, submitted in November, stated that a bomb was feasible, although he was more conservative about its destructive power than Mark Oliphant and his British colleagues.[25]

The final draft of Compton's November report made no mention of using plutonium, but after discussing the latest research with Ernest Lawrence, Compton became convinced that a plutonium bomb was also feasible. In December, Compton was placed in charge of the plutonium project.[26] He hoped to achieve a controlled chain reaction by January 1943, and to have a bomb by January 1945. To tackle the problem, he had the research groups working on plutonium and nuclear reactor design at Columbia University, Princeton University and the University of California, Berkeley, concentrated together as the Metallurgical Laboratory in Chicago. Its objectives were to produce reactors to convert uranium to plutonium, to find ways to chemically separate the plutonium from the uranium, and to design and build an atomic bomb.[27]

In June 1942, the United States Army Corps of Engineers assumed control of the nuclear weapons program and Compton's Metallurgical Laboratory became part of the Manhattan Project.[28] That month, Compton gave Robert Oppenheimer responsibility for bomb design.[29] It fell to Compton to decide which of the different types of reactor designs that the Metallurgical Laboratory scientists had devised should be pursued, even though a successful reactor had not yet been built.[30]

When labor disputes delayed construction of the Metallurgical Laboratory's new home in the Red Gate Woods, Compton decided to build Chicago Pile-1, the first nuclear reactor, under the stands at Stagg Field.[31] Under Fermi's direction, it went critical on December 2, 1942.[32] Compton arranged for Mallinckrodt to undertake the purification of uranium ore,[33] and with DuPont to build the plutonium semi-works at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.[34]

A major crisis for the plutonium program occurred in July 1943, when Emilio Segrè's group confirmed that plutonium created in the X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge contained high levels of plutonium-240. Its spontaneous fission ruled out the use of plutonium in a gun-type nuclear weapon. Oppenheimer's Los Alamos Laboratory met the challenge by designing and building an implosion-type nuclear weapon.[25]

 
Compton's house in Chicago, now a national landmark

Compton was at the Hanford site in September 1944 to watch the first reactor being brought online. The first batch of uranium slugs was fed into Reactor B at Hanford in November 1944, and shipments of plutonium to Los Alamos began in February 1945.[35] Throughout the war, Compton would remain a prominent scientific adviser and administrator. In 1945, he served, along with Lawrence, Oppenheimer, and Fermi, on the Scientific Panel that recommended military use of the atomic bomb against Japan.[36] He was awarded the Medal for Merit for his services to the Manhattan Project.[37]

Return to Washington University

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.[37] During Compton's time as chancellor, the university formally desegregated its undergraduate divisions in 1952, named its first female full professor, and enrolled record numbers of students as wartime veterans returned to the United States. His reputation and connections in national scientific circles allowed him to recruit many nationally renowned scientific researchers to the university. Despite Compton's accomplishments, he was criticized then, and subsequently by historians, for moving too slowly toward full racial integration, making Washington University the last major institution of higher learning in St. Louis to open its doors to African Americans.[38]

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.[37]

Philosophy

Compton was one of a handful of scientists and philosophers to propose a two-stage model of free will. Others include William James, Henri Poincaré, Karl Popper, Henry Margenau, and Daniel Dennett.[39] In 1931, Compton championed the idea of human freedom based on quantum indeterminacy, and invented the notion of amplification of microscopic quantum events to bring chance into the macroscopic world. In his somewhat bizarre mechanism, he imagined sticks of dynamite attached to his amplifier, anticipating the Schrödinger's cat paradox, which was published in 1935.[40]

Reacting to criticisms that his ideas made chance the direct cause of people's actions, Compton clarified the two-stage nature of his idea in an Atlantic Monthly article in 1955. First there is a range of random possible events, then one adds a determining factor in the act of choice.[41]

A set of known physical conditions is not adequate to specify precisely what a forthcoming event will be. These conditions, insofar as they can be known, define instead a range of possible events from among which some particular event will occur. When one exercises freedom, by his act of choice he is himself adding a factor not supplied by the physical conditions and is thus himself determining what will occur. That he does so is known only to the person himself. From the outside one can see in his act only the working of physical law. It is the inner knowledge that he is in fact doing what he intends to do that tells the actor himself that he is free.[41]

Religious views

Compton was a Presbyterian.[42] His father Elias was an ordained Presbyterian minister.[42]

Compton lectured on a "Man's Place in God's World" at Yale University, Western Theological Seminary and the University of Michigan in 1934-35.[42] The lectures formed the basis of his book The Freedom of Man. His chapter "Death, or Life Eternal?" argued for Christian immortality and quoted verses from the Bible.[42][43] From 1948 to 1962, Compton was an elder of the Second Presbyterian Church in St. Louis.[42] In his later years, he co-authored the book Man's Destiny in Eternity. Compton set Jesus as the center of his faith in God's eternal plan.[42] He once commented that he could see Jesus' spirit at work in the world as an aspect of God alive in men and women.[42]

Death and legacy

 
The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory released into Earth's orbit in 1991

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.[44]

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.[45] He is commemorated in various ways. Compton crater on the Moon is co-named for Compton and his brother Karl.[46] The physics research building at Washington University in St Louis is named in his honor,[47] as is the university's top fellowship for undergraduate students studying math, physics, or planetary science.[48] Compton invented a more gentle, elongated, and ramped version of the speed bump called the "Holly hump", many of which are on the roads of the Washington University campus.[49] The University of Chicago remembered Compton and his achievements by dedicating the Arthur H. Compton House in his honor.[50] It is now listed as a National Historic Landmark.[51] Compton also has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.[52] NASA's Compton Gamma Ray Observatory was named in honor of Compton. The Compton effect is central to the gamma ray detection instruments aboard the observatory.[53]

Bibliography

  • Compton, Arthur (1926). X-Rays and Electrons: An Outline of Recent X-Ray Theory. New York: D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc. OCLC 1871779.
  • Compton, Arthur; with Allison, S. K. (1935). X-Rays in Theory and Experiment. New York: D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc. OCLC 853654.
  • Compton, Arthur (1935). The Freedom of Man. New Haven: Yale University Press. OCLC 5723621.
  • Compton, Arthur (1940). The Human Meaning of Science. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. OCLC 311688.
  • Compton, Arthur (1949). Man's Destiny in Eternity. Boston: Beacon Press. OCLC 4739240.
  • Compton, Arthur (1956). Atomic Quest. New York: Oxford University Press. OCLC 173307.
  • Compton, Arthur (1967). Johnston, Marjorie (ed.). The Cosmos of Arthur Holly Compton. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. OCLC 953130.
  • Compton, Arthur (1973). Shankland, Robert S. (ed.). Scientific Papers of Arthur Holly Compton. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-11430-9. OCLC 962635.

Notes

  1. ^ Hockey 2007, p. 244.
  2. ^ . American Mothers, Inc. Archived from the original on March 23, 2011. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  3. ^ a b Compton 1967, p. 425.
  4. ^ . Alpha Tau Fraternity. Archived from the original on October 16, 2014. Retrieved August 10, 2013.
  5. ^ Compton 1967, pp. 11–12.
  6. ^ Compton, A. H. (May 23, 1913). "A Laboratory Method of Demonstrating the Earth's Rotation". Science. 37 (960): 803–06. Bibcode:1913Sci....37..803C. doi:10.1126/science.37.960.803. PMID 17838837.
  7. ^ a b c "Arthur H. Compton – Biography". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved March 19, 2013.
  8. ^ "Arthur Holly Compton (1892–1962)" (PDF). University of Notre Dame. Retrieved July 24, 2013.
  9. ^ a b c Allison 1965, p. 82.
  10. ^ a b Allison 1965, p. 94.
  11. ^ a b Allison 1965, p. 83.
  12. ^ a b Compton 1967, p. 27.
  13. ^ . Time. January 13, 1936. Archived from the original on October 24, 2012.
  14. ^ a b c d Allison 1965, pp. 84–86.
  15. ^ a b c Compton, Arthur H. (May 1923). "A Quantum Theory of the Scattering of X-Rays by Light Elements". Physical Review. 21 (5): 483–502. Bibcode:1923PhRv...21..483C. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.21.483.
  16. ^ Gamow 1966, pp. 17–23.
  17. ^ . University of California Riverside. Archived from the original on November 10, 1996. Retrieved August 18, 2013.
  18. ^ Compton 1967, p. 36.
  19. ^ a b Allison 1965, pp. 87–88.
  20. ^ Allison 1965, pp. 88–89.
  21. ^ "Eastman Professorship". The Association of American Rhodes Scholars. Retrieved July 26, 2013.
  22. ^ Allison 1965, p. 90.
  23. ^ Compton 1967, pp. 157–163.
  24. ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, pp. 36–38.
  25. ^ a b Hewlett & Anderson 1962, pp. 46–49.
  26. ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, pp. 50–51.
  27. ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, pp. 54–55.
  28. ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, pp. 74–75.
  29. ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, p. 103.
  30. ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, pp. 180–181.
  31. ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, pp. 108–109.
  32. ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, p. 174.
  33. ^ Allison 1965, p. 92.
  34. ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, pp. 190–191.
  35. ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, pp. 304–310.
  36. ^ "Recommendations on the Immediate Use of Nuclear Weapons". nuclearfiles.org. Retrieved July 27, 2013.
  37. ^ a b c Allison 1965, p. 93.
  38. ^ Pfeiffenberger, Amy M. (Winter 1989). "Democracy at Home: The Struggle to Desegregate Washington University in the Postwar Era". Gateway-Heritage. Missouri Historical Society. 10 (3): 17–24.
  39. ^ "Two-Stage Models for Free Will". The Information Philosopher. Retrieved July 27, 2013.
  40. ^ Compton, A. H. (August 14, 1931). "The Uncertainty Principle and Free Will". Science. 74 (1911): 172. Bibcode:1931Sci....74..172C. doi:10.1126/science.74.1911.172. PMID 17808216. S2CID 29126625.
  41. ^ a b Compton 1967, p. 121.
  42. ^ a b c d e f g Blackwood, James R. (1988). "Arthur Compton's Atomic Venture". American Presbyterians. 66 (3): 177–193. JSTOR 23330520.
  43. ^ Eikner, Allen V. (1980). Religious Perspectives and Problems An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion. University Press of America. pp. 194-203. ISBN 978-0-8191-1215-6
  44. ^ "Arthur Holly Compton: Systemwide". California Digital Library. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
  45. ^ Allison 1965, p. 97.
  46. ^ "Compton". Tangient LLC. Retrieved July 27, 2013.
  47. ^ "Arthur Holly Compton Laboratory of Physics". Washington University. Retrieved July 27, 2013.
  48. ^ . Washington University. Archived from the original on February 15, 2018. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
  49. ^ . Washington University. Archived from the original on July 19, 2013. Retrieved July 27, 2013.
  50. ^ . University of Chicago. Archived from the original on December 1, 2005. Retrieved July 27, 2013.
  51. ^ . National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on February 12, 2012. Retrieved July 27, 2013.
  52. ^ St. Louis Walk of Fame. . stlouiswalkoffame.org. Archived from the original on October 31, 2012. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  53. ^ "The CGRO Mission (1991–2000)". NASA. Retrieved July 27, 2013.

References

External links

  •   Media related to Arthur Compton at Wikimedia Commons
  • "Strange Instrument Built to Solve Mystery of Cosmic Rays", April 1932, Popular Science article about Compton on research on cosmic rays
  • at Washington University in St. Louis
  • Arthur Holly Compton on Information Philosopher
  • Arthur Compton on Nobelprize.org  
  • National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
  • Arthur Compton at Find a Grave
  • Guide to the Arthur Holly Compton Papers 1918-1964 at the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center

arthur, compton, arthur, holly, compton, september, 1892, march, 1962, american, physicist, nobel, prize, physics, 1927, 1923, discovery, compton, effect, which, demonstrated, particle, nature, electromagnetic, radiation, sensational, discovery, time, wave, na. 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 Arthur ComptonCompton in 1927BornArthur Holly Compton 1892 09 10 September 10 1892Wooster Ohio USDiedMarch 15 1962 1962 03 15 aged 69 Berkeley California USAlma materCollege of WoosterPrinceton UniversityKnown forCompton scatteringCompton wavelengthCompton Getting effectCompton generatorSpouseBetty Charity McCloskey m 1916 wbr ChildrenArthur Alan ComptonJohn Joseph ComptonAwardsNobel Prize for Physics 1927 Matteucci Medal 1930 Franklin Medal 1940 Hughes Medal 1940 Medal for Merit 1946 Scientific careerFieldsPhysicsInstitutionsWashington University in St LouisUniversity of ChicagoUniversity of MinnesotaDoctoral advisorHereward L CookeDoctoral studentsLuis Walter AlvarezWinston H BostickRobert S ShanklandPiara Singh GillJoyce C StearnsWu YouxunSignatureIn 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 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 Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2 1 Compton effect 2 2 X rays 2 3 Cosmic rays 3 Manhattan Project 4 Return to Washington University 5 Philosophy 6 Religious views 7 Death and legacy 8 Bibliography 9 Notes 10 References 11 External linksEarly life Edit Compton and Werner Heisenberg in 1929 in Chicago Arthur Compton was born on September 10 1892 in Wooster Ohio the son of Elias and Otelia Catherine nee Augspurger Compton 1 who was named American Mother of the Year in 1939 2 They were an academic family Elias was dean of the University of Wooster later the College of Wooster which Arthur also attended Arthur s eldest brother Karl who also attended Wooster earned a Doctor of Philosophy PhD degree in physics from Princeton University in 1912 and was president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1930 to 1948 His second brother Wilson likewise attended Wooster earned his PhD in economics from Princeton in 1916 and was president of the State College of Washington later Washington State University from 1944 to 1951 3 All three brothers were members of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity 4 Compton was initially interested in astronomy and took a photograph of Halley s Comet in 1910 5 Around 1913 he described an experiment where an examination of the motion of water in a circular tube demonstrated the rotation of the earth a device now known as the Compton generator 6 That year 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 8 When Arthur Compton earned his PhD in 1916 he Karl and Wilson became the first group of three brothers to earn Ph D s from Princeton Later they would become the first such trio to simultaneously head American colleges 3 Their sister Mary married a missionary C Herbert Rice who became the principal of Forman Christian College in Lahore 9 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 10 Compton spent a year as a physics instructor at the University of Minnesota in 1916 17 11 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 During World War I he developed aircraft instrumentation for the Signal Corps 9 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 Working with George Paget Thomson the son of J J Thomson Compton studied the scattering and absorption of gamma rays He observed that the scattered rays were more easily absorbed than the original source 11 12 Compton was greatly impressed by the Cavendish scientists especially Ernest Rutherford Charles Galton Darwin and Arthur Eddington and he ultimately named his second son after J J Thomson 12 For a time Compton was a deacon at a Baptist church Science can have no quarrel he said with a religion which postulates a God to whom men are as His children 13 Career Edit Compton on the cover of Time magazine on January 13 1936 holding his cosmic ray detector Compton effect Edit Main article 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 7 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 14 15 In 1923 Compton published a paper in the Physical Review that explained the X ray shift by attributing particle like momentum to photons something Einstein had invoked for his 1905 Nobel Prize winning explanation of the photo electric effect First postulated by Max Planck in 1900 these were conceptualized as elements of light quantized by containing a specific amount of energy depending only on the frequency of the light 16 In his paper Compton derived the mathematical relationship between the shift in wavelength and the scattering angle of the X rays by assuming that each scattered X ray photon interacted with only one electron His paper concludes by reporting on experiments that verified his derived relation l l h m e c 1 cos 8 displaystyle lambda lambda frac h m e c 1 cos theta where l displaystyle lambda is the initial wavelength l displaystyle lambda is the wavelength after scattering h displaystyle h is the Planck constant m e displaystyle m e is the electron rest mass c displaystyle c is the speed of light and 8 displaystyle theta is the scattering angle 15 The quantity h mec is known as the Compton wavelength of the electron it is equal to 2 43 10 12 m The wavelength shift l l lies between zero for 8 0 and twice the Compton wavelength of the electron for 8 180 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 Thus the magnitude of the shift is related not to the Compton wavelength of the electron but to the Compton wavelength of the entire atom which can be upwards of 10 000 times smaller 15 When I presented my results at a meeting of the American Physical Society in 1923 Compton later recalled it initiated the most hotly contested scientific controversy that I have ever known 18 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 Compton and Alfred W Simon developed the method for observing at the same instant individual scattered X ray photons and the recoil electrons In Germany Walther Bothe and Hans Geiger independently developed a similar method 14 X rays Edit Compton at the University of Chicago in 1933 with graduate student Luis Alvarez next to his cosmic ray telescope In 1923 Compton moved to the University of Chicago as professor of physics 7 a position he would occupy for the next 22 years 14 In 1925 he demonstrated that the scattering of 130 000 volt X rays from the first sixteen elements in the periodic table hydrogen through sulfur were polarized a result predicted by J J Thomson William Duane from Harvard University spearheaded an effort to prove that Compton s interpretation of the Compton effect was wrong Duane carried out a series of experiments to disprove Compton but instead found evidence that Compton was correct In 1924 Duane conceded that this was the case 14 Compton investigated the effect of X rays on the sodium and chlorine nuclei in salt He used X rays to investigate ferromagnetism concluding that it was a result of the alignment of electron spins 19 In 1926 he became a consultant for the Lamp Department at General Electric In 1934 he returned to England as Eastman visiting professor at Oxford University While there General Electric asked him to report on activities at General Electric Company plc s research laboratory at Wembley Compton was intrigued by the possibilities of the research there into fluorescent lamps His report prompted a research program in America that developed it 20 21 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 19 He revised his book with the help of Samuel K Allison to produce X Rays in Theory and Experiment 1935 This work remained a standard reference for the next three decades 22 Cosmic rays Edit By the early 1930s Compton had become interested in cosmic rays At the time their existence was known but their origin and nature remained speculative Their presence could be detected using a spherical bomb containing compressed air or argon gas and measuring its electrical conductivity Trips to Europe India Mexico Peru and Australia gave Compton the opportunity to measure cosmic rays at different altitudes and latitudes Along with other groups who made observations around the globe they found that cosmic rays were 15 more intense at the poles than at the equator Compton attributed this to the effect of cosmic rays being made up principally of charged particles rather than photons as Robert Millikan had suggested with the latitude effect being due to Earth s magnetic field 23 Manhattan Project Edit Arthur Compton s ID badge from the Hanford Site For security reasons he used a pseudonym In April 1941 Vannevar Bush head of the wartime National Defense Research Committee NDRC created a special committee headed by Compton to report on the NDRC uranium program Compton s report which was submitted in May 1941 foresaw the prospects of developing radiological weapons nuclear propulsion for ships and nuclear weapons using uranium 235 or the recently discovered plutonium 24 In October he wrote another report on the practicality of an atomic bomb For this report he worked with Enrico Fermi on calculations of the critical mass of uranium 235 conservatively estimating it to be between 20 kilograms 44 lb and 2 tonnes 2 0 long tons 2 2 short tons He also discussed the prospects for uranium enrichment with Harold Urey spoke with Eugene Wigner about how plutonium might be produced in a nuclear reactor and with Robert Serber about how the plutonium produced in a reactor might be separated from uranium His report submitted in November stated that a bomb was feasible although he was more conservative about its destructive power than Mark Oliphant and his British colleagues 25 The final draft of Compton s November report made no mention of using plutonium but after discussing the latest research with Ernest Lawrence Compton became convinced that a plutonium bomb was also feasible In December Compton was placed in charge of the plutonium project 26 He hoped to achieve a controlled chain reaction by January 1943 and to have a bomb by January 1945 To tackle the problem he had the research groups working on plutonium and nuclear reactor design at Columbia University Princeton University and the University of California Berkeley concentrated together as the Metallurgical Laboratory in Chicago Its objectives were to produce reactors to convert uranium to plutonium to find ways to chemically separate the plutonium from the uranium and to design and build an atomic bomb 27 In June 1942 the United States Army Corps of Engineers assumed control of the nuclear weapons program and Compton s Metallurgical Laboratory became part of the Manhattan Project 28 That month Compton gave Robert Oppenheimer responsibility for bomb design 29 It fell to Compton to decide which of the different types of reactor designs that the Metallurgical Laboratory scientists had devised should be pursued even though a successful reactor had not yet been built 30 When labor disputes delayed construction of the Metallurgical Laboratory s new home in the Red Gate Woods Compton decided to build Chicago Pile 1 the first nuclear reactor under the stands at Stagg Field 31 Under Fermi s direction it went critical on December 2 1942 32 Compton arranged for Mallinckrodt to undertake the purification of uranium ore 33 and with DuPont to build the plutonium semi works at Oak Ridge Tennessee 34 A major crisis for the plutonium program occurred in July 1943 when Emilio Segre s group confirmed that plutonium created in the X 10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge contained high levels of plutonium 240 Its spontaneous fission ruled out the use of plutonium in a gun type nuclear weapon Oppenheimer s Los Alamos Laboratory met the challenge by designing and building an implosion type nuclear weapon 25 Compton s house in Chicago now a national landmark Compton was at the Hanford site in September 1944 to watch the first reactor being brought online The first batch of uranium slugs was fed into Reactor B at Hanford in November 1944 and shipments of plutonium to Los Alamos began in February 1945 35 Throughout the war Compton would remain a prominent scientific adviser and administrator In 1945 he served along with Lawrence Oppenheimer and Fermi on the Scientific Panel that recommended military use of the atomic bomb against Japan 36 He was awarded the Medal for Merit for his services to the Manhattan Project 37 Return to Washington University EditAfter 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 37 During Compton s time as chancellor the university formally desegregated its undergraduate divisions in 1952 named its first female full professor and enrolled record numbers of students as wartime veterans returned to the United States His reputation and connections in national scientific circles allowed him to recruit many nationally renowned scientific researchers to the university Despite Compton s accomplishments he was criticized then and subsequently by historians for moving too slowly toward full racial integration making Washington University the last major institution of higher learning in St Louis to open its doors to African Americans 38 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 37 Philosophy EditCompton was one of a handful of scientists and philosophers to propose a two stage model of free will Others include William James Henri Poincare Karl Popper Henry Margenau and Daniel Dennett 39 In 1931 Compton championed the idea of human freedom based on quantum indeterminacy and invented the notion of amplification of microscopic quantum events to bring chance into the macroscopic world In his somewhat bizarre mechanism he imagined sticks of dynamite attached to his amplifier anticipating the Schrodinger s cat paradox which was published in 1935 40 Reacting to criticisms that his ideas made chance the direct cause of people s actions Compton clarified the two stage nature of his idea in an Atlantic Monthly article in 1955 First there is a range of random possible events then one adds a determining factor in the act of choice 41 A set of known physical conditions is not adequate to specify precisely what a forthcoming event will be These conditions insofar as they can be known define instead a range of possible events from among which some particular event will occur When one exercises freedom by his act of choice he is himself adding a factor not supplied by the physical conditions and is thus himself determining what will occur That he does so is known only to the person himself From the outside one can see in his act only the working of physical law It is the inner knowledge that he is in fact doing what he intends to do that tells the actor himself that he is free 41 Religious views EditCompton was a Presbyterian 42 His father Elias was an ordained Presbyterian minister 42 Compton lectured on a Man s Place in God s World at Yale University Western Theological Seminary and the University of Michigan in 1934 35 42 The lectures formed the basis of his book The Freedom of Man His chapter Death or Life Eternal argued for Christian immortality and quoted verses from the Bible 42 43 From 1948 to 1962 Compton was an elder of the Second Presbyterian Church in St Louis 42 In his later years he co authored the book Man s Destiny in Eternity Compton set Jesus as the center of his faith in God s eternal plan 42 He once commented that he could see Jesus spirit at work in the world as an aspect of God alive in men and women 42 Death and legacy Edit The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory released into Earth s orbit in 1991 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 44 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 45 He is commemorated in various ways Compton crater on the Moon is co named for Compton and his brother Karl 46 The physics research building at Washington University in St Louis is named in his honor 47 as is the university s top fellowship for undergraduate students studying math physics or planetary science 48 Compton invented a more gentle elongated and ramped version of the speed bump called the Holly hump many of which are on the roads of the Washington University campus 49 The University of Chicago remembered Compton and his achievements by dedicating the Arthur H Compton House in his honor 50 It is now listed as a National Historic Landmark 51 Compton also has a star on the St Louis Walk of Fame 52 NASA s Compton Gamma Ray Observatory was named in honor of Compton The Compton effect is central to the gamma ray detection instruments aboard the observatory 53 Bibliography EditCompton Arthur 1926 X Rays and Electrons An Outline of Recent X Ray Theory New York D Van Nostrand Company Inc OCLC 1871779 Compton Arthur with Allison S K 1935 X Rays in Theory and Experiment New York D Van Nostrand Company Inc OCLC 853654 Compton Arthur 1935 The Freedom of Man New Haven Yale University Press OCLC 5723621 Compton Arthur 1940 The Human Meaning of Science Chapel Hill University of North Carolina Press OCLC 311688 Compton Arthur 1949 Man s Destiny in Eternity Boston Beacon Press OCLC 4739240 Compton Arthur 1956 Atomic Quest New York Oxford University Press OCLC 173307 Compton Arthur 1967 Johnston Marjorie ed The Cosmos of Arthur Holly Compton New York Alfred A Knopf OCLC 953130 Compton Arthur 1973 Shankland Robert S ed Scientific Papers of Arthur Holly Compton Chicago University of Chicago Press ISBN 978 0 226 11430 9 OCLC 962635 Notes Edit Hockey 2007 p 244 Past National Mothers of the Year American Mothers Inc Archived from the original on March 23 2011 Retrieved July 23 2013 a b Compton 1967 p 425 The Official History of the Beta Beta Chapter of the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity Alpha Tau Fraternity Archived from the original on October 16 2014 Retrieved August 10 2013 Compton 1967 pp 11 12 Compton A H May 23 1913 A Laboratory Method of Demonstrating the Earth s Rotation Science 37 960 803 06 Bibcode 1913Sci 37 803C doi 10 1126 science 37 960 803 PMID 17838837 a b c Arthur H Compton Biography Nobel Foundation Retrieved March 19 2013 Arthur Holly Compton 1892 1962 PDF University of Notre Dame Retrieved July 24 2013 a b c Allison 1965 p 82 a b Allison 1965 p 94 a b Allison 1965 p 83 a b Compton 1967 p 27 Science Cosmic Clearance Time January 13 1936 Archived from the original on October 24 2012 a b c d Allison 1965 pp 84 86 a b c Compton Arthur H May 1923 A Quantum Theory of the Scattering of X Rays by Light Elements Physical Review 21 5 483 502 Bibcode 1923PhRv 21 483C doi 10 1103 PhysRev 21 483 Gamow 1966 pp 17 23 The Compton wavelength of the electron University of California Riverside Archived from the original on November 10 1996 Retrieved August 18 2013 Compton 1967 p 36 a b Allison 1965 pp 87 88 Allison 1965 pp 88 89 Eastman Professorship The Association of American Rhodes Scholars Retrieved July 26 2013 Allison 1965 p 90 Compton 1967 pp 157 163 Hewlett amp Anderson 1962 pp 36 38 a b Hewlett amp Anderson 1962 pp 46 49 Hewlett amp Anderson 1962 pp 50 51 Hewlett amp Anderson 1962 pp 54 55 Hewlett amp Anderson 1962 pp 74 75 Hewlett amp Anderson 1962 p 103 Hewlett amp Anderson 1962 pp 180 181 Hewlett amp Anderson 1962 pp 108 109 Hewlett amp Anderson 1962 p 174 Allison 1965 p 92 Hewlett amp Anderson 1962 pp 190 191 Hewlett amp Anderson 1962 pp 304 310 Recommendations on the Immediate Use of Nuclear Weapons nuclearfiles org Retrieved July 27 2013 a b c Allison 1965 p 93 Pfeiffenberger Amy M Winter 1989 Democracy at Home The Struggle to Desegregate Washington University in the Postwar Era Gateway Heritage Missouri Historical Society 10 3 17 24 Two Stage Models for Free Will The Information Philosopher Retrieved July 27 2013 Compton A H August 14 1931 The Uncertainty Principle and Free Will Science 74 1911 172 Bibcode 1931Sci 74 172C doi 10 1126 science 74 1911 172 PMID 17808216 S2CID 29126625 a b Compton 1967 p 121 a b c d e f g Blackwood James R 1988 Arthur Compton s Atomic Venture American Presbyterians 66 3 177 193 JSTOR 23330520 Eikner Allen V 1980 Religious Perspectives and Problems An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion University Press of America pp 194 203 ISBN 978 0 8191 1215 6 Arthur Holly Compton Systemwide California Digital Library Retrieved May 24 2017 Allison 1965 p 97 Compton Tangient LLC Retrieved July 27 2013 Arthur Holly Compton Laboratory of Physics Washington University Retrieved July 27 2013 Honorary Scholars Program in Arts and Sciences Washington University Archived from the original on February 15 2018 Retrieved March 25 2018 Compton Speed Bumps for Traffic Control 1953 Washington University Archived from the original on July 19 2013 Retrieved July 27 2013 Compton House University of Chicago Archived from the original on December 1 2005 Retrieved July 27 2013 Compton Arthur H House National Historic Landmark summary listing National Park Service Archived from the original on February 12 2012 Retrieved July 27 2013 St Louis Walk of Fame St Louis Walk of Fame Inductees stlouiswalkoffame org Archived from the original on October 31 2012 Retrieved April 25 2013 The CGRO Mission 1991 2000 NASA Retrieved July 27 2013 References EditAllison Samuel K 1965 Arthur Holly Compton 1892 1962 Biographical Memoirs National Academy of Sciences 38 81 110 ISSN 0077 2933 OCLC 1759017 Gamow George 1966 Thirty Years That Shook Physics The Story of Quantum Theory Garden City New York Doubleday ISBN 0 486 24895 X OCLC 11970045 Hewlett Richard G Anderson Oscar E 1962 The New World 1939 1946 PDF University Park Pennsylvania State University Press ISBN 0 520 07186 7 OCLC 637004643 Retrieved March 26 2013 Hockey Thomas 2007 The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers Springer Publishing ISBN 978 0 387 31022 0 OCLC 263669996 Retrieved August 22 2012 External links Edit Media related to Arthur Compton at Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote has quotations related to Arthur Compton Biography portal History of Science portal Nuclear technology portal Physics portal World War II portal Strange Instrument Built to Solve Mystery of Cosmic Rays April 1932 Popular Science article about Compton on research on cosmic rays Arthur Compton biographical entry at Washington University in St Louis Annotated bibliography for Arthur Compton from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues Arthur Holly Compton on Information Philosopher Arthur Compton on Nobelprize org National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir Arthur Compton at Find a Grave Guide to the Arthur Holly Compton Papers 1918 1964 at the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Arthur Compton amp oldid 1121492328, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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