Editing Julius Adams Stratton

{{Short description|American university president (1901–1994)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Julius Adams Stratton
| image               = Julius Adams Stratton.jpg
| caption             =
| order               = 11th
| title               = President of [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]
| term_start          = 1959
| term_end            = 1966
| predecessor         = [[James Rhyne Killian]]
| successor           = [[Howard Wesley Johnson]]
| order1              = 1st
| title1              = Chancellor of [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]
| term_start1         = 1956
| term_end1           = 1959
| predecessor1        =
| successor1          = [[Paul E. Gray]]
| president1          = [[James Rhyne Killian]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1901|5|18}}
| birth_place         = [[Seattle]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|1994|6|22|1901|5|18}}
| death_place         = [[Boston, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| module              = {{Infobox scientist | embed=yes
  | field             = [[Electrical engineering]]<ref name=API />
  | work_institution  = [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]
  | alma_mater        = {{ublist|[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]|[[Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich]]}}
  | thesis_title      = Streuungskoeffizient von Wasserstoff nach der Wellenmechanik
  | thesis_url        = https://www.proquest.com/docview/301803695/
  | thesis_year       = {{small|1928}}
  | doctoral_advisors  = {{ublist|[[Paul Scherrer]]|[[Hermann Weyl]]}}
  | academic_advisors =
  | doctoral_students = [[Lan Jen Chu]]
  | notable_students  =
  | known_for         = Stratton-[[Lan Jen Chu|Chu]] integral equation
  | influences        =
  | influenced        =
  | awards            = [[Medal for Merit]] {{small|(1946)}}<ref name=MoM>{{cite web | title=President Emeritus Julius Adams Stratton dies at 93 | website=[[MIT News]] | date=29 June 1994 | url=https://news.mit.edu/1994/stratton-0629 | access-date=3 January 2024}}</ref><br>Fellow of the [[American Physical Society|APS]] {{small|(1936)}}<ref>{{cite web|title=APS Fellow Archive|website=American Physical Society|url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm?initial=&year=1936&unit_id=&institution=Massachusetts+Institute+of+Technology}} (search on year=1936 and institution=Massachusetts Institute of Technology)</ref><br>[[IEEE Medal of Honor]] {{small|(1957)}}<br>[[Faraday Medal]]  {{small|(1961)}}
  }}
}}

'''Julius Adams Stratton''' (May 18, 1901 – June 22, 1994)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/1994/stratton-0629.html|title=President Emeritus Julius Adams Stratton dies at 93|date=29 June 1994 }}</ref> was an American electrical engineer, physicist, and university administrator known for his contributions in applied electromagnetism. He attended the [[University of Washington]] for one year, where he was admitted to the [[Zeta Psi]] fraternity, then transferred to the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT), from which he graduated with a [[bachelor's degree]] in 1923 and a [[master's degree]] in 1926 both in [[electrical engineering]]. He then followed graduate studies in Europe and the Technische Hochschule of Zürich ([[ETH Zurich]]), Switzerland, awarded him the degree of Doctor of Science in 1928.<ref name="thesis-stratton-1928">{{cite thesis |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/301803695/ |title=Streuungskoeffizient von Wasserstoff nach der Wellenmechanik |date=1928 |publisher=[[Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich]] |type=Ph.D. |last=Stratton |first=Julius Adams |via=[[ProQuest]] |url-access=subscription  |oclc=720868304 |trans-title=Scattering coefficient of hydrogen in wave mechanics}}</ref>

== Professional biography ==

Stratton was appointed Assistant Professor in Electrical Engineering Department at MIT after his PhD. In 1930 his appointment was transferred to the Physics Department. He was promoted to Professor in 1941. He was one of the first staff members of the [[MIT Radiation Laboratory]] who joined the Laboratory in 1940.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Gray | first=P. E. | author-link=Paul E. Gray | title=Julius Adams Stratton [Obituary]| journal=Physics Today | volume=48 | issue=1 | date=1 January 1995 | issn=0031-9228 | doi=10.1063/1.2807887 | pages=67–68 | url=https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/article/48/1/67/408254/Julius-Adams-Stratton | access-date=3 January 2024| url-access=subscription }}</ref>

He published the classic book ''Electromagnetic Theory'' as part of the [[McGraw Hill Education|McGraw Hill]] series in Pure and Applied Physics in 1941. Stratton's book was one of the most influential electromagnetic textbooks which had formed an integral part of the graduate electromagnetic educations of both physics and electrical engineering communities since its publication.<ref name="Dudley" /> [[John David Jackson (physicist)|John David Jackson]] described Stratton's book as his bible<ref>{{cite journal | last=Jackson | first=J. D. | author-link=John David Jackson (physicist) | title=Snapshots of a Physicist's Life | journal=[[Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science]] | volume=49 | issue=1 | date=1999 | issn=0163-8998 | doi=10.1146/annurev.nucl.49.1.1 | pages=1–33 | bibcode=1999ARNPS..49....1J | url=https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev.nucl.49.1.1 |access-date=February 24, 2024| url-access=subscription }}</ref> and said that he used Stratton's book to learn advanced electromagnetism.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Jackson | first=J. D. |author-link=John David Jackson (physicist)| title=Jackson's Electromagnetic Antecedents | journal=[[American Journal of Physics]] | volume=69 | issue=6 | date=2001 | issn=0002-9505 | doi=10.1119/1.1286665 | pages=631 | bibcode=2001AmJPh..69..631J | url=https://pubs.aip.org/aapt/ajp/article-abstract/69/6/631/979777/Jackson-s-electromagnetic-antecedents | access-date=February 24, 2024| url-access=subscription }}</ref> Stratton's book also described by [[Julian Schwinger]] as one of the essential electromagnetic textbooks.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Schwinger | first1=J. | author-link=Julian Schwinger | last2=DeRaad | first2=L. L. | last3=Milton | first3=K. A. | last4=Tsai | first4=W. Y. | title=Classical Electrodynamics | publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] | date=2018 | isbn=978-0-429-50354-2 | doi=10.1201/9780429503542 | page=561 | url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.1201/9780429503542/classical-electrodynamics-julian-schwinger-lester-deraad-jr-wu-yang-tsai-kimball-milton | access-date=February 24, 2024}}</ref> In 2007 Stratton's book had been reissued by the [[Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers|IEEE]] as one of its classic reissues in the collection of The IEEE Press Series on Electromagnetic Wave Theory.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Dudley | first=D. G. | title=The IEEE Series on Electromagnetic Wave Theory | journal=IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine | volume=48 | issue=6 | date=2006 | issn=1558-4143 | doi=10.1109/MAP.2006.323368 | pages=126–127 | s2cid=40484203 |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4118002 | access-date=February 24, 2024| url-access=subscription }}</ref> Stratton's book was one of the most requested classic electromagnetic textbook for reissuing in electrical engineering community. According to Donald G. Dudley then series editor of The IEEE Press Series on Electromagnetic Wave Theory, over twelve years before reissued publication of textbook in 2007, he had received many requests worldwide to reissue Stratton's book.<ref name="Dudley">{{cite book | last=Stratton | first=J. A. | author-link=Julius Adams Stratton | title=Electromagnetic Theory | date=2007 | publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]]-[[Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers|IEEE]] | isbn=9781119134640 | doi=10.1002/9781119134640 | page=v | url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781119134640 | others="Foreword to the Reissued Edition" by D. G. Dudley | access-date= February 9, 2024}}</ref>

Stratton was elected to the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1946.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Julius Adams Stratton |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/julius-adams-stratton |access-date=2023-01-10 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}</ref> In the same year he was awarded the [[Medal for Merit]] for his services.<ref name=MoM /> He was elected to the United States [[National Academy of Sciences]] in 1950 and the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1956.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Julius A. Stratton |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/50009.html |access-date=2023-01-10 |website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Julius+Adams+Stratton&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2023-01-10 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> He served as the [[List of Presidents of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology|president of MIT]] between 1959 and 1966, after serving the university in several lesser posts, notably appointments to [[provost (education)|provost]] in 1949, [[vice president]] in 1951, and [[chancellor (education)|chancellor]] in 1956.

In the 1955–1965 he served as member of Board of Trustees, [[RAND Corporation]].<ref name=API>{{cite web | title=Stratton, Julius Adams, 1901–1994 | website=[[American Institute of Physics]] | url=https://history.aip.org/phn/11604011.html | access-date=January 4, 2024}}</ref> He also served as the [[chairman]] of the [[Ford Foundation]] between 1964 and 1971.

In 1967, Stratton was seconded to chair a Congressionally established "Commission on Marine Sciences, Engineering and Resources" whose work culminated in a report, "Our Nation and the Sea", published in 1969, that had a major influence on ocean sciences and management in the United States and abroad. The commission itself became commonly referred to as the Stratton Commission.

Stratton was also a [[List of founding members of the National Academy of Engineering|founding member]] of the [[National Academy of Engineering]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nae.edu/About/leadership/57773.aspx |title=Founding members of the National Academy of Engineering |publisher=[[National Academy of Engineering]] |access-date={{Format date|2012|10|21}}}}</ref>

Stratton collected his speeches in a 1966 book titled ''Science and the Educated Man: Selected Speeches of Julius A. Stratton'' (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1966), with a foreword by the historian of technology [[Elting E. Morison]] who had been on the faculty of MIT as a professor of humanities in the Sloan School of Industrial Management from 1946 to 1966.<ref>[[William H. Honan|Honan, William H.]], [https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/26/obituaries/elting-e-morison-85-educator-who-wrote-military-biographies.html?pagewanted=1 "Elting E. Morison, 85, Educator Who Wrote Military Biographies"], ''The New York Times'', April 26, 1995</ref>

MIT's Julius Adams Stratton Student Center at 84 [[Massachusetts Avenue (Cambridge)|Massachusetts Avenue]] is named in his honor.

==Publications==
===Books===
* Stratton JA, ''Electromagnetic Theory'', [[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]]-[[Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers|IEEE]], 2007.<ref group=Note>Pages 464–470 of the book were written in collaboration with [[Lan Jen Chu]].</ref>
* Stratton JA, [[Philip M. Morse|Morse PM]], [[Lan Jen Chu|Chu LJ]], Hunter RA, ''Elliptic Cylinder and Spheroidal Wave Functions: Including Tables of Separation Constants and Coefficients'', [[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]]-[[MIT Press|MIT]], 1941.
* Stratton JA, [[Philip M. Morse|Morse PM]], [[Lan Jen Chu|Chu LJ]], [[John Little (academic)|Little JDC]], [[Fernando J. Corbató|Corbató FJ]], ''Spheroidal Wave Functions: Including Tables of Separation Constants and Coefficients'', [[MIT Press|MIT]], 1956.

===Articles===
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1364/JOSA.13.000471|title=A High Frequency Bridge |year=1926 |last1=Stratton |first1=J. A. |journal=Journal of the Optical Society of America |volume=13 |issue=4 |page=471 |bibcode=1926JOSA...13..471S }}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.38.159|title=A Theoretical Investigation of the Transmission of Light through Fog |year=1931 |last1=Stratton |first1=J. A. |author-mask=2 |last2=Houghton |first2=H. G. |journal=Physical Review |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=159–165 |bibcode=1931PhRv...38..159S }}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1073/pnas.21.1.51|title=Spheroidal Functions |year=1935 |last1=Stratton |first1=J. A. |author-mask=2 |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=51–56 |pmid=16577657 |pmc=1076527 |bibcode=1935PNAS...21...51S |doi-access=free }}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1073/pnas.21.6.316|title=Spheroidal Functions of the Second Kind |year=1935 |last1=Stratton |first1=J. A. |author-mask=2 |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=21 |issue=6 |pages=316–321 |pmid=16587971 |pmc=1076595 |bibcode=1935PNAS...21..316S |doi-access=free }}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.56.99|title=Diffraction Theory of Electromagnetic Waves |year=1939 |last1=Stratton |first1=J. A. |author-mask=2 |last2=Chu |first2=L. J. |journal=Physical Review |volume=56 |issue=1 |pages=99–107 |bibcode=1939PhRv...56...99S }}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1063/1.1712899|title=Steady-State Solutions of Electromagnetic Field Problems. I. Forced Oscillations of a Cylindrical Conductor |year=1941 |last1=Stratton |first1=J. A. |author-mask=2 |last2=Chu |first2=L. J. |journal=Journal of Applied Physics |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=230–235 |bibcode=1941JAP....12..230S }}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1063/1.1712900|title=Steady-State Solutions of Electromagnetic Field Problems. II. Forced Oscillations of a Conducting Sphere |year=1941 |last1=Stratton |first1=J. A. |author-mask=2 |last2=Chu |first2=L. J. |journal=Journal of Applied Physics |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=236–240 |bibcode=1941JAP....12..236S }}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1063/1.3059932|title=Science and the educated man |year=1956 |last1=Stratton |first1=Julius A. |author-mask=2 |journal=Physics Today |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=17–20 |bibcode=1956PhT.....9d..17S }}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1126/science.149.3689.1206|title=Advice to a New Academy |year=1965 |last1=Stratton |first1=Julius A. |author-mask=2 |journal=Science |volume=149 |issue=3689 |pages=1206–1208 |pmid=17747445 |bibcode=1965Sci...149.1206S }}

===Other books===
* Stratton JA, ''Science and the Educated Man: Selected Speeches of Julius A. Stratton'', [[MIT Press|MIT]], 1966.
* Stratton JA, Mannix LH, ''Mind and Hand: The Birth of MIT'', [[MIT Press|MIT]], 2005.

==See also==
* [[List of textbooks in electromagnetism]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist|group=Note}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{cite journal
| last = Johnson
| first = Howard W.
| author-link = Howard W. Johnson
| title = Julius Adams Stratton (18 May 1901–22 June 1994)
| journal = Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society
| volume = 140
| issue = 1
| pages = 116–121
| date = March 1996
| jstor=987282}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Julius_A._Stratton IEEE History Center – IEEE minibio of Julius Stratton]
* [http://www.lib.noaa.gov/noaainfo/heritage/stratton/title.html Full text of the final Stratton Commission report, "Our Nation and the Sea"]
* {{MathGenealogy|id=121910}}

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{{MIT provosts}}
{{MIT presidents}}

{{IEEE Medal of Honor Laureates 1951-1975}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stratton, Julius Adams}}
[[Category:1901 births]]
[[Category:1994 deaths]]
[[Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]
[[Category:20th-century American engineers]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society]]
[[Category:Founding members of the United States National Academy of Engineering]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:IEEE Medal of Honor recipients]]
[[Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology provosts]]
[[Category:MIT School of Engineering alumni]]
[[Category:MIT Sloan School of Management faculty]]
[[Category:Engineers from Seattle]]
[[Category:20th-century American academics]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:American microwave engineers]]
[[Category:ETH Zurich alumni]]