Arthur Williams Wright

Who was Arthur Williams Wright?

Arthur Williams Wright was an American physicist, born in Lebanon, Connecticut. He graduated from Yale in 1859. In 1861, he received a PhD, also from Yale, one of the first three awarded by an American university. After, he became a tutor at Yale, first of Latin from 1863–66 and then natural philosophy from 1866-67. He also studied the law and was admitted to the bar in 1868, although he never practiced law. From 1868-69, he studied in Germany at the University of Heidelberg and in Berlin. After serving as professor of physics and chemistry at Williams College from 1869–72, he returned to Yale, first as professor of molecular physics and chemistry until 1887. In 1883, Yale was able to open the first laboratory in the country dedicated to physics research because of Wright's influence and friendship with Henry T Sloane and Thomas C Sloane, siblings and Yale alumni. In 1911, a new Sloane Laboratory was opened, also endowed by the Sloanes. They also endowed a fellowship for graduate students at the laboratory. From 1887 until his retirement in 1906, he was professor of experimental physics.