Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Technique Yearbook (Cambridge, MA)

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and broadened the conception of this institution which has existed from the beginning as a private institution devoted to purposes of the widest public and national significance. Coming to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from Princeton University, where he had been Re- search Professor and Chairman ol the Department of Physics, Dr. Compton has been able to make notable contributions to the development of fundamental research. His own studies in the field of Physics are embodied in more than one hundred publications dealing with pho toelectricity, ionization of gases, soft X-ravs, spectros- copy in the extreme ultraviolet, fluorescence and the dissociation of gases, electric arcs and other types of gas discharge, and other subjects. The Rumford Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the most distinguished scien- tific honors in the world, was awarded Dr. Comptcn in 1931 in recognition of his contributions to the field of thermionics, the study of electron emission from hot films and cathodes, and of spectroscopics, the investigation of matter by means of light waves. He was elected to the presidency of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1934, and is a leading member of many other scientific societies. Under Dr. Compton ' s admin- istration, new Institute facilities for education and research include the Wright Brothers Wind Tun- nel, a laboratory for Gas Turbine research, the Sloan Automotive Laboratories, the Van de Craaff high voltage generator, a cyclotron, and a labora- tory for the development of high voltage short- wave X-ray generators. ATOMIC POWER . . . Developed by experimentation with the cyclotron and Van de Graaff Generator

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Dr. Compton has always stressed the opportunities and obligations for scientifically trained men to render public service, and he himself has made a generous contribution of time to public service. Back in his Princeton days, during the last war, he served with the United States Signal Corps where he was engaged in the develop- ment of submarine detecting devices. The Armistice in 191 8 found him in Paris where he had been appointed Associate Scientific Attache to the United States Embassy. With the approach of the present war, long before the danger signals were generally recognized, Dr. Comp- ton was among the first public figures of importance to call attention to the growing dangers of a critical situa- tion. Again and again in public addresses, he sought to arouse the public to vigilance and preparation, and he was among the first to point out the vital contributions which science could make to national defense. More than a year before the outbreak of hostilities, he began directing the research energies of M.I. T. to war problems, with the result that Technology has become a great center for war research. Its temporary budget now totals $40,000,000 and its personnel is over five times the peacetime total of staff and employees. All this has only been possible by wise and farseeing administrative decisions, sometimes risky, but which have proved in the long run of notable importance to the war effort. Dr. Compton has been a member of the National Defense Research Committee since its establishment in 1 940, and since 1 943 he has been Chief of the Office of Field Service of the Office of Scientific Research and Development. His war activi- ties have also included membership on the Baruch Rubber Committee in 1942. His most recent assignment is that of Chairman of the Research Bureau for National Security, a long-range post-war agency established in February 1945 to organize and administer a Ibrward-looking pro- gram of research in scientific matters pertaining to national security. . The full story of his war activities will of course have to wait unti the end of the war, but they have been undouljtcdly aljsorbing and have sometimes carried Dr. Compton far afield. BARUCH RUBBER COMMITTEE Dr. Conant, Mr. Baruch, Dr. Compton A phase oj Technology Research