New-York tribune., 1909-06-09
DARTMOUTH ELECTS
Professor Ernest FOr Nichols IMAM
imOusly Chosen President.

Concord. n H. June s-Professor Ernest Fox
! Nichols formerly head of the department of
/ physics at DARTMOUTH College and now professor
or experimental physics at Columbia University.
/ was tonight unanimously elected president Of
! Dartmouth to succeed Dr. William Tucker, who
| resigned May y, 1907, account of i'll health.
! This action was taken at a meeting Of the trustees
! OF the college held in this city tonight.
! Professor Nichols. although not a graduate OF
Dartmouth College. is honorary alumnus of the
institution having received the degree OF Doctor
of Science in 1903 From 1898 1903 at the
head of The department of physics Of Dartmouth
His work as a member of the faculty brought dis
tinction 10 the college and to himself
The selection of Professor Nichols to become the
tenth president of Dartmouth is the result of
two of assduous effort on the part of the
trustees to find man to succeed President Tucker
who would be acceptable to the alumni and under
graduates and at the same time fulfil the tradi-
uonal requirements of the institution
The remarkable growth of the college from 315 to
over 1r2D students during President fuckers four
teen years presidency with increase of nearly
$z'Voo"D IN college property and a corresponding
| enlargement of the faculty. made the problem of
selecting new head particularly difficult.
Concerning the selection of Professor Nichols,
General Frank S. Streeter OF Concord, chairman of
the committee of trustees in charge of nomina-
ton of a successor TO President Tucker. made this
statement:
The committee in its nominating and the trustees
prosper OF such an administration as Is promised
IN the assurance that Professor Nichols will take
mouth College. His record as a scholar in his
chosen Geld of physics. his ability as admins
TRAITOR, his personal in social contact and his
effectiveness as speaker. are bound to establish
him quickly in the confidence of those who have
not known him before.
DR. Nichols was born in 1859 at I.eavenworth
Kan. He received his early education in the West,
and graduated at the age of nineteen from the
Kansas Agricultural College. The next year was
spent in teaching, and the following years as
graduate student in mathemaycs and physics at
Cornell University, where he held the Erastus
Brooks fellowship. He received from Cornell the
degree of Master of Science in 1898 and Of Doctor of
Science in 1897. both taken in course
In 1892 he appointed to the chair of physics
and astronomy in Colgate University. DR.. Nichols
was at Colgate for six years. but two and half
years of the time spent leave OF absence
studying under Professors Planck and Rubens. of
the University of Berlin While student in the
Berlin laboratory he made several discoveries which
were received and published by the Royal Prussian
Academy of Sciences
In Berlin Professor Nichols devised a rev form
Of tho radiometer BY means of which radiant ener-
gy could be measured with great precision. After
HIS return to America he used this instrument at
the Yerkes Observatory and the Mount Wilson OBJ
servatory. California, in attempts largely success
full measure the heat from the stars and planets.
In 1898 Dr Nichols called 70 the professor
ship Of physics in Dartmouth College. During the
measurements OF the heat received from several OF
the brighter stars and planets by using his own
radiometer. These experiments admittedly the
most sensitive and delicate measurements of heat
which have been made.
Professor Nichols working with Professor Cor
don F. Hull. in 1901. discovered the pressure Ct
beam of light. This discovery and the difficult and
accurate measurement OF the new force won imme-
diate and world wide recognition for both men.
After FIVE years at Dartmouth Or. Nichols
called the chair OF experimental physics in Co
umbia University; but before he assumed his new
duties Dartmouth gave him the honorary degree OF
doctor OF science,
Dr. Nichols in 1894 married katherine Williams
West. OF Hamilton y Y. They have one child. q
daughter.
The trustees tonight appointed committee TO
take charge OF the Inauguration exercises. which
VIII be held time IN the early fall. The
committee consists Of General Frank s. Streeter OF
Concord; Or. Francis Brown and Charles +. Ma
thewson. Of New York and Henry Hilton. Of Chi
Cago.