Academic Excellence Under Compton

The photo depicts Carl Cori, winner of the 1947 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, Joseph Erlanger, winner of the 1944 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, Gerty Cori, winner of the 1947 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, and Arthur Compton, winner of the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physics.

For his scientific discovery of the particle nature of light, Arthur Compton won the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physics, the first Nobel Prize won by a Washington University professor. During Compton's tenure as Chancellor, Carl and Gerty Cori became the fifth and sixth Nobel Laureates from Washington University. Also during Compton's tenure, Gwendolyn Drew became the first woman full professor at the university's main campus and the College of Liberal Arts became the final academic division to fully desegregate. Following Arthur Compton's work in Eads, as Chancellor he continued fostering world-renowned research and sought to bring about gender and racial equality at the university⁵.

⁵“Arthur Holly Compton.” Washington University in St. Louis, 11 Jan. 2016, wustl.edu/about/history-traditions/chancellors/compton/.