Educator, born in Litchfield, Illinois, USA. He studied mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois, and by 1891 was teaching physics. In 1892 he went to the newly opened University of Chicago, taught physics, researched its application to engineering, and planned and supervised the construction of Ryerson laboratories. In 1900 the secretary of the treasury asked him to write a proposal for a Bureau of Standards, and his proposed legislation was adopted the next year. The Bureau was located within the Department of Commerce, with Stratton as its first director. He became president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1923), becoming chairman of the corporation in 1930. He died suddenly on the same day as his friend, Thomas Alva Edison, while dictating Edison's eulogy.
| Presidents of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
|---|
| William Barton Rogers (1862–1870, 1879–1881) • John Daniel Runkle (1870–1878) • Francis Amasa Walker (1881–1897) • James Crafts (1897–1900) • Henry Smith Pritchett (1900–1907) • Arthur Amos Noyes (acting 1907–1909) • Richard Cockburn Maclaurin (1909–1920) • Elihu Thomson (acting 1920–1921, 1922–1923) • Ernest Fox Nichols (1921–1922) • Samuel Wesley Stratton (1923–1930) • Karl Taylor Compton (1930–1948) • James Rhyne Killian (1948–1959) • Julius Adams Stratton (1959–1966) • Howard Wesley Johnson (1966–1971) • Jerome Wiesner (1971–1980) • Paul Edward Gray (1980–1990) • Charles Marstiller Vest (1990–2004) • Susan Hockfield (2004—) |
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