Samuel W. Stratton papers

Samuel Wesley Stratton's father grew up in Litchfield, Illinois, and went into stock farming and later into lumbering. He married a widow, Mrs. Mary Webster Philips, and Stratton was born on the Litchfield farm on July 18, 1861. In 1880, Stratton left the farm to study at the Illinois Industrial University at Urbana, which later became the University of Illinois, and enrolled in the course entitled "machine shop practice."

Stratton worked part-time while attending the university. During his last two years of study Stratton lived with the University's president, Dr. Delim H. Peabody. In exchange, he maintained the president's grounds. In 1884, Stratton received a completion certificate from the university and started teaching. With the submission of his thesis, "The Design of a Heliostat," he received his B.S. degree in 1886.

Stratton was an instructor of mathematics and physics at the University of Illinois from 1884 until 1889, when he became assistant professor of physics. In 1890, Stratton organized a course in electrical engineering and became professor of physics and electrical engineering.

At the request of Professor Albert A. Michelson, Stratton joined the University of Chicago's faculty as assistant professor of physics in 1892. He helped to organize the Ryerson Physical Laboratory, which Michelson directed. Stratton's major research at the lab was in interferometry. Michelson and Stratton collaborated on at least two papers, "Harmonic Analysis" and "The Source of X-rays." Stratton became associate professor in 1895 and professor in 1900.

While attending college Stratton was a cadet captain of a battalion, and in Chicago he and Michelson organized a voluntary naval militia. Stratton was in charge of one unit of the battalion. The Spanish-American War started in 1898 and Stratton became a commissioned lieutenant. He took the Chicago battalion to Key West, Florida, for active duty and served on several vessels before he was discharged in November 1898.

Stratton returned to Chicago in the fall of 1898. The following year he was to go on sabbatical in France, but the Secretary of the Treasury, Lyman J. Gage, at the behest of both the Assistant Secretary, Frank A. Vanderlip, and the Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, Dr. Henry S. Pritchett, asked Stratton to head the Survey's Office of Weights and Measures. Stratton gave up his European plans and agreed to take the position temporarily in order to develop a plan for the establishment of a bureau of standards. In October of 1899, Stratton was formally appointed Inspector of Standard Weights and Measures. Pritchett and Gage agreed with Stratton's plans and a bill was drafted asking Congress to establish a national bureau.

Throughout 1900, Stratton contacted manufacturers and scientists, asking for their support of the bill. He received widespread backing through both letters and testimony to Congress. The law establishing the National Bureau of Standards passed in March of 1901 and went into effect in July. President McKinley appointed Stratton its director soon after the bill's passage. As director, Stratton found a site for the laboratory, planned its equipment, and hired personnel. He contributed to choosing members of the visiting committee that advised the Bureau. Stratton remained as the director of the National Bureau of Standards for twenty-one years and helped to foster its growth. The Bureau started as a small part of the Treasury Department and was a large agency within the Department of Commerce when Stratton left.

Stratton's interest in education did not wane when he stopped teaching. At the National Bureau of Standards he created a program of graduate science courses for employees. The program continues today.

In January of 1923, Stratton became the eighth president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). At the Institute Stratton encouraged research in engineering, industrial processes, and in pure science as well as expansion into new fields of applied science. It was during his term that salaries were increased, a dean of graduate students was appointed, and the departments of Hygiene, Building Construction, and Fuel and Gas Engineering were created. The campus also expanded with the erection of dormitories, the Guggenheim Laboratory, and the Homberg Memorial Infirmary. After seven years in office, Stratton became the first chair of the Corporation and Karl Taylor Compton assumed the presidency.

In addition to his primary administrative functions, Stratton was on the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics for many years. He also served as an expert consultant for the Department of the Interior, on the Board of Visitors at the United States Naval Academy and on the Advisory Committee for the American Delegation for the Conference on Limitation of Armaments. While at MIT, he became a member of the visiting committee to the National Bureau of Standards and a member of the Board of Trustees for the Museum of Peaceful Arts. With A. Lawrence Lowell and Judge Robert Grant, Stratton served on a committee appointed by the Governor of Massachusetts which investigated the conviction of Sacco and Vanzetti. They found the trial fair, despite public pressure to exonerate the defendants. From June 1928 to March 1929, Stratton served on the Navy's Submarine Safety Board.

As a scientist and as an educator, Stratton received many honors. While he never earned a doctorate, he was given a number of honorary degrees: Dr. Eng. from the University of Illinois; D.Sc. degrees from the universities of Pittsburgh, Cambridge, and Yale; a Ph.D. from Rensselaer; and an LL.D. from Harvard. He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Councillor of the American Philosophical Society, and honorary vice-president of the Association of International Patentees and an honorary member of the Optical Society, the University Club, and the Algonquin Club. As a member of the National Research Council he served on the Technical Committee of the Patent Office and on the Division of Foreign Relations. In 1919 he served as a delegate to the International Research Council for the National Research Council. Stratton was awarded the National Academy of Sciences medal for Emminence in Application of Science to the Public Welfare; he also received the Cresson Medal of the Franklin Institute. Internationally, Stratton was a chevalier and an officer of the Legion of Honor. He was chair of the International Conference on Weights and Measures and vice president of the Committee of Organization for the International Congress of Electricity. Stratton also served on the selection committee for the Coffin Medal of the National Light Association and for the Byrd Medal of the Military Order of the World War. He was a member of many organizations including the National Academy of Sciences, the International Association of Weights and Measures and several engineering societies.

Samuel Stratton died on October 18, 1931. In 1962, the National Bureau of Standards established an annual Stratton Award for an employee who accomplished outstanding scientific or engineering achievements.