Editing Arthur Compton (section)

== Early life ==
[[File:Compton Heisenberg 1929 Chicago.jpg|thumb|left|upright|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,{{sfn|Hockey|2007|p=244}} who was named American Mother of the Year in 1939 and was of German [[Mennonite]] descent.<ref>{{citeweb|url=http://www.americanmothers.org/past-national-mothers-of-the-year |title=Past National Mothers of the Year |access-date=July 23, 2013 |publisher=American Mothers, Inc. |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110323130748/http://www.americanmothers.org/past-national-mothers-of-the-year |archive-date=March 23, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite GAMEO|last1=Amstutz ||last2=Steiner |first1=J. E. |first2=Samuel J. |date=February 2012 |article=Compton, Otelia Augspurger (1859-1944)}}</ref>
They were an academic family. Elias was dean of the [[College of Wooster|University of Wooster]] (later the College of Wooster), which Arthur also attended. Arthur's eldest brother, [[Karl Compton|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 Martindale Compton|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.{{sfn|Compton|1967|p=425}} All three brothers were members of the [[Alpha Tau Omega]] fraternity.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://depaul.digication.com/atohistory/The_1920_s |access-date=August 10, 2013 |publisher=Alpha Tau Fraternity |title=The Official History of the Beta Beta Chapter of the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141016120814/https://depaul.digication.com/atohistory/The_1920_s |archive-date=October 16, 2014 |url-status = dead}}</ref>

Compton was initially interested in astronomy, and took a photograph of [[Halley's Comet]] in 1910.{{sfn|Compton|1967|pp=11–12}} 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]].<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Science|volume=37|issue=960|doi=10.1126/science.37.960.803 |pmid=17838837|pages=803–06|title=A Laboratory Method of Demonstrating the Earth's Rotation|date=May 23, 1913|last1=Compton|first1=A.&nbsp;H.|bibcode = 1913Sci....37..803C |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1448113}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Nobel" /> 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".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://library.nd.edu/chemistry/resources/genealogy/physics/documents/ComptonAH.pdf |access-date=July 24, 2013 |title=Arthur Holly Compton (1892–1962) |publisher=[[University of Notre Dame]] |archive-date=January 11, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111004355/http://library.nd.edu/chemistry/resources/genealogy/physics/documents/ComptonAH.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

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.{{sfn|Compton|1967|p=425}} Their sister Mary married a missionary, C. Herbert Rice, who became the principal of [[Forman Christian College]] in [[Lahore]].{{sfn|Allison|1965|p=82}} In June 1916, Compton married Betty Charity McCloskey, a Wooster classmate and fellow graduate.{{sfn|Allison|1965|p=82}} They had two sons, Arthur Alan Compton and [[John Joseph Compton]].{{sfn|Allison|1965|p=94}}

Compton spent a year as a physics instructor at the [[University of Minnesota]] in 1916–17,{{sfn|Allison|1965|p=83}} then two years as a research engineer with the [[Westinghouse Electric (1886)|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 (United States Army)|Signal Corps]].{{sfn|Allison|1965|p=82}}

In 1919, Compton was awarded one of the first two [[United States National Research Council|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.&nbsp;J. Thomson]], Compton studied the [[scattering]] and [[Absorption (electromagnetic radiation)|absorption]] of [[gamma rays]]. He observed that the scattered rays were more easily absorbed than the original source.{{sfn|Allison|1965|p=83}}{{sfn|Compton|1967|p=27}} 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.&nbsp;J. Thomson.{{sfn|Compton|1967|p=27}}

From 1926 to 1927, he taught at the department of chemistry of the [[University of the Punjab]] where he was a [[Guggenheim Fellowship|Guggenheim Fellow]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=University of the Punjab – Science |url=http://pu.edu.pk/home/department/55/Department-of-Physics#:~:text=In%20the%20academic%20year%201926,and%20latitude%20on%20Cosmic%20Rays. |access-date=2023-08-29 |website=pu.edu.pk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Newspaper |first=the |date=2014-10-15 |title=Nobel Laureates from Lahore |url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1137982 |access-date=2023-08-29 |website=DAWN.COM |language=en}}</ref>

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."<ref name="Time">{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,755635-5,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024010454/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,755635-5,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 24, 2012 |newspaper=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |title=Science: Cosmic Clearance|date=January 13, 1936}}</ref>