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Biography
AbstractImportant DatesOccupationPlacesSubjectsRelationships
PeopleInstitutionsResources
Archival as AuthorArchival as SubjectPublished as AuthorPublished as SubjectW. V. Houston
Dates
January 19, 1900 – August 22, 1968
Authorized Form of Name
Houston, W. V. (William Vermillion), 1900-
Additional Forms of Names
Houston, William Vermillion, 1900-
Houston, William Vermillion, 1900-1968
Biography
Abstract
William Vermillion Houston was Professor of Physics and Honorary Chancellor at Rice University (1946-1968). Other institutional affiliations included California Institute of Technology and the University of Munich. His research interests included spectrum analysis and the fine-structure constant.
Important Dates
January 19, 1900Birth, Mount Gilead (Ohio).
1920Obtained BA and BS, Ohio State University, Columbus (Ohio).
1921 – 1922Obtained MA, University of Chicago, Chicago (Ill.).
1925Obtained PhD in Physics, Ohio State University, Columbus (Ohio).
1925 – 1946National Research Fellow (1925-1927); Assistant Professor of Physics (1927-1929); Associate Professor of Physics (1929-1931); and Professor of Physics (1931-1946), California Institute of Technology, Pasadena (Calif.).
1927 – 1928Guggenheim Fellow, University of Munich.
1928Guggenheim Fellow, University of Leipzig.
1941 – 1945Director of Special Studies, Division of War Research, Columbia University.
1943Member, National Academy of Sciences.
1946 – 1968President, Rice Institute (1946-1960); President, Rice University (1960-1961); and Professor of Physics and Honorary Chancellor, Rice University (1961-1968), Rice University, Houston (Tex.).
1954 – 1966Member, National Science Board.
1962President, American Physical Society.
August 22, 1968Death, Edinburgh (Scotland).
Occupation
Solid state physicist.
Places
Birth
Undergraduate Education
Graduate Education
Employment
Death
Subjects
Electron paramagnetic resonance.
Relationships
People
Family
Houston, Mildred White
Wife, married in 1924.
Advisors & Collaborators
Cole, Alfred D. (Alfred Dodge),
PhD advisor at Ohio State University, "Structure of the red line of hydrogen and the interpretation of doublets in other elements."
DuMond, Jesse W. M. (Jesse William Monroe), 1892-1976
Advised by Houston at California Institute of Technology, "Experimental and theoretical studies of the breadth and structure of the Compton shifted line."
Advisor at University of Leipzig (Universität Leipzig).
Advised by Houston at California Institute of Technology, "The vibrational spectrum of a mon-atomic face-centered cubic crystal lattice," and both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Colleagues
Anderson, Carl D. (Carl David), 1905-1991
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Bacher, Robert F. (Robert Fox), 1905-2004
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Bonner, Tom Wilkerson, 1910-1961
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Crane, H. R. (Horace Richard), 1907-2007
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
DuBridge, Lee A. (Lee Alvin), 1901-1994
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Epstein, Paul S. (Paul Sophus), 1883-1966
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Furry, W. H. (Wendell Hinkle), 1907-
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Both employed at Division 6 of the Office of Scientific Research and Development.
Lauritsen, Charles Christian, 1892-1968
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Millikan, Robert Andrews, 1868-1953
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Neddermeyer, Seth H. (Seth Henry), 1907-1988
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 1904-1967
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Panofsky, Wolfgang K. H. (Wolfgang Kurt Hermann), 1919-2007
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Robertson, H. P. (Howard Percy), 1903-1961
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Schiff, Leonard I. (Leonard Isaac), 1915-1971
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Both employed in the Office of Scientific Research and Development.
Slichter, Louis B. (Louis Byrne), 1896-1978
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Tolman, Richard C. (Richard Chace), 1881-1948
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Von Kármán, Theodore, 1881-1963
Both employed at California Institute of Technology.
Additional
Havens, William W. (William Westerfield), 1920-2004
Herring, William Conyers, 1914-
Huff, L. D. (Lorenz Ditmar), 1905-
Low, Frank James
Oppenheimer, Frank, 1912-1985
Institutions
Major Positions
California Institute of Technology. Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy
National Research Fellow; Assistant Professor of Physics; Associate Professor of Physics; and Professor of Physics.
Columbia University. Division of War Research
Director of Special Studies.
Rice University
President; Professor of Physics; and Honorary Chancellor.
Professional Activities & Affiliations
President.
National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)
Member.
National Science Board (U.S.)
Member.
Ohio State University. Department of Physics
Obtained BA and BS (1920) and PhD in Physics (1925).
Universität Leipzig (1409-1953)
Guggenheim Fellow.
Universitat Munchen. Fakultat fur Physik
Guggenheim Fellow.
University of Chicago. Department of Physics
Obtained MA (1922).
Resources
Archival Resources
Author
Joint ceremonial session of the American Physical Society and the American Association of Physics Teachers [sound recording], 1963 January 24.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with W. V. Houston, 1964 March 3.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
W. V. Houston papers, 1925-1968 (bulk 1941-1968).
Fondren Library. Woodson Research Center.
Rice University
P. O. Box 1892, Houston, TX 77001, USA
William V. Houston intellectual autobiography, 1962.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Subject
Lorenz D. Huff papers, 1928-1948.
Libraries. Special Collections
Clemson University
Senator Strom Thurmond Institute Building, Clemson, SC 29634-3001, USA
Oral history interview with Frank J. Low, 2000 January 25 and May 4.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Frank Oppenheimer, 1984 November 16.
Institute Archives
California Institute of Technology
1201 East California Blvd. (Mail Code 015A-74), Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
Oral history interview with Gregor Wentzel, 1964 February 3 to 5.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Robert Benjamin Leighton, 1977 July 29 and August 5.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with William Conyers Herring, 1974 July 23, 29, and 31 October.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with William Shockley, 1974 September 10.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with William W. Havens, 1991 February 21, July 17, 29, Augut 5, 12 and 14.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Published Resources
Author
Principles of mathematical physics [microform] / by William V. Houston …
Principles of quantum mechanics; nonrelativistic wave mechanics with illustrative applications.
Subject
"William Vermillion Houston: 1900-1968", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences
Former Rice President William V. Houston Physics Today obituary.