He found the answer to the question of how light behaves: Who is Arthur Compton?

Compton's discovery was one of the most important explanations that led physicists to conclude that objects that would be thought of as particles can behave like waves and objects. Later, with his student Luis Alvarez, Compton showed that cosmic rays contain positively charged particles.

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 played an important role in the development of the first atomic bombs during World War II.

Early Life and Education

Arthur Compton was born on September 10, 1892, in Wooster, Ohio, USA. His father, Elias Compton, graduated from Wooster University and was President of the Presbyterian Church and Teacher of Philosophy.

Arthur was their fourth child. His older sister, Mary, whose grades were higher than those of her siblings, became a Missionary in India. Karl, a physicist, became President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Wilson, a businessman, became President of Washington State University.

Arthur went to Wooster Preparatory School after the age of 14. Growing up with well-educated parents and a house full of books, he soon developed an interest in science. In particular, he was interested in astronomy and flight.

Arthur Compton was torn between his love of science and his Christian faith, which attracted him to become a missionary. His father, who is the Head of the Church, said that his son should serve Christianity more.

On the Way to Become a Physicist

Arthur Compton enrolled in Physics at Wooster University and earned a Physics degree. He devoted himself more to experimental work than theory. Compton left his home in New Jersey in 1913 to pursue graduate studies at Princeton University.

In 1914 he began working on his Ph.D. in Physics at Princeton. He graduated in 1916 with a thesis on the intensity of X-ray reflection and the distribution of electrons to atoms. Afterward, he worked as a lecturer at the University of Minnesota for a year and engineered at Westinghouse for two years. At Westinghouse, he decided to devote his soul to pure science rather than commercial research.

Science Life

Arthur Compton was awarded a prestigious fellowship in 1919 that allowed him to do postdoctoral research at Cambridge University's renowned Cavendish Laboratory. There, he studied the scattering and absorption of gamma rays. He befriended and greatly admired the electron discoverer J Thomson and the proton and atomic nucleus discoverer Ernest Rutherford.

Compton died in 1920 at the age of 28 in St. He returned to the United States as Head of the Department of Physics at the University of Washington in St. Louis, Missouri.

Structure of Light

Arthur Compton was working with very high-energy light in the form of X-rays, observing how X-rays interacted with electrons. His aim was to investigate how electrons are distributed among atoms and to find principles that show how the positions of atoms in solids can be determined using X-rays.

Arthur Compton was awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the Compton Effect.

Today we know that photons and electrons behave like waves or particles in the quantum world.

Compton played a key role in the development of the first nuclear weapons.

Arthur Compton was awarded the Medal of Merit for his wartime work.

Some Personal Information and His Death

During his Ph.D. at Princeton in 1916, Compton married Betty Charity McCloskey, a former classmate from Wooster. They had two sons, 1918 Arthur Jr, and 1928 John. John later became a Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University.

He returned to Washington University in 1945, having completed his studies on atomic weapons.

Arthur Compton died on March 15, 1962, in Berkeley, California, at the age of 69, after a cerebral hemorrhage.

----------------------------------------

What Is The Compton Effect?

https://www.scienceabc.com/pure-sciences/what-is-the-compton-effect.html