William Francis Gray Swann

William Francis Gray Swann (August 29, 1884 – January 29, 1962) was an Anglo-American physicist.^[1] He was educated at Brighton Technical College and the Royal College of Science from which he obtained a B.Sc. in 1905. He worked as an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Sheffield, while simultaneously pursuing a doctorate at University College London, from which he received a D.Sc. in 1910.^[2]

Swann left Sheffield in 1913, when he went to the United States to join the Carnegie Institute, becoming head of the Physical Division of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism. He later became a professor at the University of Minnesota, then at the University of Chicago and Yale University. E. O. Lawrence, the 1939 Nobel Laureate in Physics, was one of Swann's doctoral students at Yale.

In 1927 at the age of 43, he became the first director of the Bartol Research Foundation of the Franklin Institute. Among his first acts as Director was to arrange a contract to locate the Foundation at Swarthmore College, which is fairly close to Philadelphia. He continued as Director of the Foundation until his retirement in 1959, when he was replaced by Martin A. Pomerantz.^[3][4]

He is particularly noted for his research into cosmic rays and high-energy physics. He produced over 250 publications, including his influential, popular book The Architecture of the Universe (in 1934).

In addition to being a physicist, he was also known as an accomplished cellist and he founded the Swarthmore Symphony Orchestra. He retired in 1959, and died in 1962 in Swarthmore.

The crater Swann on the Moon is named after him.

References

Further reading

• The American Philosophical Society holds a collection of Swann's papers, and has posted a guide to the collection as well as a short biography of Swann; see "William Francis Gray Swann Papers". Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society. Retrieved 2016-08-26.