In Compton was awarded one of the first National Research Council fellowships. Louis when the equipment in England turned out to be inadequate for his needs.
Working with X-rays, he perfected his apparatus to measure the shift of wavelength with scattering angle that is now known as the Compton effect. Compton observed the scattering of X-rays from electrons in a carbon target and found that the scattered X-rays had a longer wavelength than those incident upon the target. The shift of the wavelength increased with scattering angle. Compton explained and modeled the data by assuming a particle photon nature for light and applying conservation of energy and conservation of momentum to the collision between the photon and the electron.
The scattered photon has lower energy and therefore a longer wavelength according to the relationship between energy and wavelength discovered in by German physicist Max Planck. The Compton effect is defined as the decrease in energy increase in wavelength of an X-ray or gamma ray photon, when it interacts with matter. This effect demonstrates that light cannot be explained purely as a wave phenomenon. Compton's work provided convincing proof that in scattering experiments, light behaves as a stream of particles whose energy is proportional to the frequency i.
As a result of the interaction, the electron is given part of the energy and a photon containing the remaining energy is emitted in a different direction from the original, so that the overall momentum of the system is conserved. In , he published his paper that explained X-ray shifts in the Physical Review. In the same year, he became a Physics Professor at the Chicago University. In , he became a consultant for the Lamp Department at General Electric. In , Arthur Compton's interest in cosmic rays led to his study of the geographic variations in the intensity of cosmic rays.
In , he became the chairman of the National Academic Sciences Committee. In , he resigned from his post as Chancellor. He continued to work as a Distinguished Service Professor of Natural Philosophy at the university until In , he was awarded the Hughes Medal of the Royal Society and the Benjamin Franklin Medal for his contributions in the field of science. He passed away due to cerebral hemorrhage on March 15, , in California.
He was buried in the Wooster Cemetery in Ohio. Our nation is setting a pattern for the world. With the cordial support of the Corporation and friends of the university, the loyal cooperation of the faculty, and the earnest effort of the students, this university will take an ever greater part in building our community and our world. Armed with a National Research Fellowship in physics, he studied at the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University in —20, where he witnessed early attempts at splitting the atom.
Upon his return to the U. He stayed for only three years before accepting a position at the University of Chicago, where he stayed for the next 22 years. He was also involved in cosmic ray research and from to directed a world cosmic ray survey. His book Atomic Quest not only tells the story of the Manhattan Project and the creation of the atom bomb, but also presents many of his views on the relationship between science and religion, a subject of lifelong concern for him.
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