Julius Adams Stratton

Julius Adams Stratton (May 18, 1901 – June 22, 1994)[2] was a U.S. electrical engineer, physicist, and university administrator. 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 electrical engineering (EE) in 1926. 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.[3]

Julius Adams Stratton
11th President of Massachusetts Institute of Technology
In office
1959–1966
Preceded byJames Rhyne Killian
Succeeded byHoward Wesley Johnson
1st Chancellor of Massachusetts Institute of Technology
In office
1956–1959
PresidentJames Rhyne Killian
Succeeded byPaul E. Gray
Personal details
Born(1901-05-18)May 18, 1901
Seattle, Washington
DiedJune 22, 1994(1994-06-22) (aged 93)
Boston, Massachusetts
NationalityAmerican
ResidenceUnited States
Alma mater
AwardsFellow of the APS (1936)[1]
IEEE Medal of Honor (1957)
Faraday Medal (1961)
Scientific career
FieldsElectrical engineering
InstitutionsMassachusetts Institute of Technology
ThesisStreuungskoeffizient von Wasserstoff nach der Wellenmechanik (1927)
Doctoral advisors

Professional biography

Stratton was appointed Assistant Professor in electrical engineering at MIT after his PhD. In 1930 his appointment was transferred to the Physics Department. He was promoted to Professor in 1941.

He published the classic book "Electromagnetic Theory" as part of the McGraw-Hill series in Pure and Applied Physics in 1941. It has been re-issued by the IEEE. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1946.[4]

Stratton was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1950 and the American Philosophical Society in 1956.[5][6] He served as the president of MIT between 1959 and 1966, after serving the university in several lesser posts, notably appointments to provost in 1949, vice president in 1951, and chancellor in 1956.

In the 1955–1965 he served as member of Board of Trustees, RAND Corporation.[7] 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 founding member of the National Academy of Engineering.[8]

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.[9]

MIT's Julius Adams Stratton Student Center at 84 Massachusetts Avenue is named in his honor.

Selected publications

Articles
  • Stratton, J. A. (1926). "A High Frequency Bridge". Journal of the Optical Society of America. 13 (4): 471. doi:10.1364/JOSA.13.000471.
  • ——; Houghton, H. G. (1931). "A Theoretical Investigation of the Transmission of Light through Fog". Physical Review. 38 (1): 159–165. Bibcode:1931PhRv...38..159S. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.38.159.
  • —— (1935). "Spheroidal Functions". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 21 (1): 51–56. Bibcode:1935PNAS...21...51S. doi:10.1073/pnas.21.1.51. PMC 1076527. PMID 16577657.
  • —— (1935). "Spheroidal Functions of the Second Kind". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 21 (6): 316–321. Bibcode:1935PNAS...21..316S. doi:10.1073/pnas.21.6.316. PMC 1076595. PMID 16587971.
  • ——; Chu, L. J. (1939). "Diffraction Theory of Electromagnetic Waves". Physical Review. 56 (1): 99–107. Bibcode:1939PhRv...56...99S. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.56.99.
  • ——; Chu, L. J. (1941). "Steady‐State Solutions of Electromagnetic Field Problems. I. Forced Oscillations of a Cylindrical Conductor". Journal of Applied Physics. 12 (3): 230–235. Bibcode:1941JAP....12..230S. doi:10.1063/1.1712899.
  • ——; Chu, L. J. (1941). "Steady‐State Solutions of Electromagnetic Field Problems. II. Forced Oscillations of a Conducting Sphere". Journal of Applied Physics. 12 (3): 236–240. Bibcode:1941JAP....12..236S. doi:10.1063/1.1712900.
  • —— (1956). "Science and the educated man". Physics Today. 9 (4): 17–20. Bibcode:1956PhT.....9d..17S. doi:10.1063/1.3059932.
  • —— (1965). "Advice to a New Academy". Science. 149 (3689): 1206–1208. Bibcode:1965Sci...149.1206S. doi:10.1126/science.149.3689.1206. PMID 17747445.

Books
  • Stratton JA, Electromagnetic Theory, IEEE Press, 2007.
  • Stratton JA, Science and the Educated Man: Selected Speeches of Julius A. Stratton, The MIT Press, 1966.
  • Stratton JA; Mannix LH, Mind and Hand: The Birth of MIT, The MIT Press, 2005.
  • Stratton JA; Morse PM; Chu LJ; Hunter RA, Elliptic Cylinder and Spheroidal Wave Functions: Including Tables of Separation Constants and Coefficients, Wiley, 1941.
  • Stratton JA; Morse PM; Chu LJ; Little JDC; Corbató FJ, Spheroidal Wave Functions: Including Tables of Separation Constants and Coefficients, The MIT Press, 1956.

References
  1. "APS Fellow Archive". American Physical Society. (search on year=1936 and institution=Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
  2. "President Emeritus Julius Adams Stratton dies at 93". 29 June 1994.
  3. Stratton, Julius Adams (1928). Streuungskoeffizient von Wasserstoff nach der Wellenmechanik [Scattering coefficient of hydrogen in wave mechanics] (Ph.D.). Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich. OCLC 720868304 – via ProQuest.
  4. "Julius Adams Stratton". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  5. "Julius A. Stratton". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  6. "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  7. "Stratton, Julius Adams, 1901-1994".
  8. "Founding members of the National Academy of Engineering". National Academy of Engineering. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
  9. Honan, William H., "Elting E. Morison, 85, Educator Who Wrote Military Biographies", The New York Times, April 26, 1995

Sources
  • Johnson, Howard W. (March 1996). "Julius Adams Stratton (18 May 1901-22 June 1994)". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 140 (1): 116–121. JSTOR 987282.
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