James Stratton Thompson (1899 - 1951)

Education

1923
B.S., Physics,University of Chicago
1930
Ph.D., Physics, University of Chicago - The Motion of Slow Positive Ions in Gases

Positions

1925 - 1930
Physics Instructor, Armour Institute of Technology
1930 - 1931
Assistant Professor of Physics, Armour Institute of Technology
1931 - 1934
Associate Professor of Physics, Armour Institute of Technology
1934 - 1940
Professor of Physics, Armour Institute of Technology
Chairman of Physics Department, Armour Institute of Technology
1940 - 1951
Professor of Physics, Illinois Institute of Technology
Chairman of Physics Department, Illinois Institute of Technology

Biography

James Stratton Thompson was born on November 13, 1899 in Bedford, Iowa, he served as the second lieutenant in the field artillery during the first world war. Thompson studied physics and mathematics at the University of Chicago. where he received his bachelor's degree in 1923 and his Ph.D. in 1930. He was associated with Illinois Institute of Technology from 1924 and served as chairman of the physics department for 17 years until his death in 1951.[1]

Thompson was an expert on radium emanation and served as a consultant to the F. E. Simpson Radium Institute in Chicago, making contributions on radium treatment of diseases.

He was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Xi, and Sigma Pi Sigma. He was also on the publications committee, Chicago Area of Defense, and was a fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science. And was a member of the American Physical Society, American Association of Physics Teachers, American Association of University Professors, American Society for Engineering Education, and the Chicago Physics Club. He wrote the IIT General Physics Lab Manual.

Notable Publications at IIT

References

[1] "James Stratton Thompson Obituary", Physics Today 4, 25 (September 1951).