Francis E. Low papers

Francis E. Low, 1921-2007, was a professor of physicst and provost at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

During World War II, Low worked on the mathematics of uranium enrichment processes for the Manhattan Project at the Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee. He left the project to join the Army's 10th Mountain Division in Europe. He served as a mule driver and later as an artillery surveyor.

After the war, Low went to Columbia University, where he earned his Ph.D. in physics in 1950, followed by postdoctoral work at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He spent a few years teaching at the University of Illinois at Urbana before arriving at MIT.

Low joined MIT's physics department in 1957 and served as provost from 1980 to 1985. Before becoming provost, he directed MIT's Center for Theoretical Physics and the Laboratory for Nuclear Science. In 1969, he became a founding member of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

During his time as provost, he encouraged a prominent role for the humanities in MIT's curriculum. MIT became affiliated with the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research during his tenure.

An Institute Professor, he retired from MIT in 1991 but continued to teach physics for a few more years.