Arthur H. Compton

Facts

Arthur Holly Compton

Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.

Arthur Holly Compton
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1927

Born: 10 September 1892, Wooster, OH, USA

Died: 15 March 1962, Berkeley, CA, USA

Affiliation at the time of the award: University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

Prize motivation: "for his discovery of the effect named after him."

Prize share: 1/2

Work

According to Albert Einstein's photoelectric effect theory, light consists of quanta, "packages" with definite energies corresponding to certain frequencies. A light quantum is called a photon. When Arthur Compton directed X-ray photons onto a metal surface in 1922, electrons were emancipated and the X-rays' wavelength increased because some of the incident photon energy was transferred to the electrons. The experiment confirmed that electromagnetic radiation could also be described as photon particles following the laws of mechanics.

To cite this section
MLA style: Arthur H. Compton – Facts. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Media AB 2020. Mon. 20 Jan 2020. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1927/compton/facts/>

Back to top Back To Top Takes users back to the top of the page

Learn more

Nobel Prizes 2019

Fifteen laureates have been awarded this year, for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.

Their work and discoveries range from how cells adapt to changes in levels of oxygen to our ability to fight global poverty.

See them all presented here.
2019 Nobel Laureates

Explore prizes and laureates

Look for popular awards and laureates in different fields, and discover the history of the Nobel Prize.