Arthur W. Wright
| Arthur Williams Wright | |
|---|---|
Portrait of Wright as a Yale professor, c. 1872–1879
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| Born |
September 8, 1836 Lebanon, Connecticut |
| Died | December 19, 1915 (aged 79) New Haven, Connecticut |
| Resting place | Grove Street Cemetery |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | |
| Alma mater | Yale University |
| Spouse | Susan Forbes Silliman |
Arthur Williams Wright (September 8, 1836 – December 19, 1915) was an American physicist. Wright spent most of his scientific career at Yale University, where he received the first science Ph.D. awarded outside of Europe. His research, which ranged from electricity to astronomy, produced the first X-ray image and experimented with Röntgen rays. He also proved instrumental in securing funding for the first dedicated physics lab building in the United States, the Sloane Physical Laboratory.
Wright was born in Lebanon, Connecticut to Jesse Wright and Harriet Williams. He attended Bacon Academy in Colchester, Connecticut, then graduated from Yale College in 1859. In 1861, he completed a dissertation on satellite mechanics at Yale and received a Ph.D., one of the first three awarded by an American university. (The remaining two were awarded to James Morris Whiton and Eugene Schuyler by Yale on the same occasion.) He spent two years as a collaborator on the new edition of Webster's Dictionary edited by Yale President Noah Porter. After, he became a tutor at Yale, first of Latin from 1863–66 and then natural philosophy from 1866-67. He also studied the law and was admitted to the bar in 1868, although he never practiced law. From 1868-69, he studied in Germany at the University of Heidelberg and in Berlin.
After serving as Professor of Physics and Chemistry at Williams College from 1869–72, he returned to Yale, first as Professor of Molecular Physics and Chemistry until 1887. In 1883, Yale was able to open the first laboratory in the country dedicated to physics research (the Sloane Physics Laboratory) because of Wright's influence and friendship with Henry T. Sloane and Thomas C Sloane, siblings and Yale alumni. In 1911, a second Sloane Laboratory, also endowed by the Sloanes, was the first building completed on Science Hill. They also endowed a fellowship for graduate students at the laboratory. From 1887 until his retirement in 1906, he was professor of experimental physics.
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