The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-06-10
lew NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
Prof. Ernest r. Nichols Succeeds Dr.
William Tucker

| william luCkcT
Concord, n. H., June S.-Prof Ern-
est Fox Nichols, d. &c., formerly head
of the department of physics at Dart
mouth college and now professor of
experimental physics at Columbia Uni
versity, was tonight unanimously cleo
ted president of Dartmouth to succeed
DR.. William Tucker who resigned on
May u, 1907 on account OF i'll health.
This action was taken at meeting of
the trustees of the college held In this
city tonight.
Prof. Nichols although not a gradu-
ate of Dartmouth College, is an hon
orary alumnus of the institution, hav-
ing been given the degree of Doctor
of Science in 1903, and from 1898 to
1906 was at the head of the physics
department of Dartmouth. His work
as a member of the faculty brought
international distinction to the college
and himself, and throughout the five
years he eyinced a thorough know
ledge CT the college equalled only by
the affection of the faculty and stu
dents for him.
The selection of Prof. Nichols to be-
come the tenth president of Dart
mouth is the result of over two years
of assiduous effort on the part of the
trustees to find man to succeed Pre-
sident Tucker, who would be accep-
table to the alumni, and undergradu-
ates and at the same time fulfill the
traditional requirements of the insti-
tuition.
| DR.. Nichols, born in 1869 at Leaven-
worth, graduated at the age of 10 from
the Kansas Agricultural College. Sub
sequCntly as graduate student in
mathematics and physics at Cornell
University he held the Erastus Brooks
| fellowship. He received from Cor
nell the degree of master of science
in 1897, both taken in course.
In 1892 he was appointed to the
chair of physics and astronomy in Col
gate University. DR.. Nichols was al
Colgate for six years, but two and a
half years of the time was spent on
leave of absence, studying under Pro
fessors Planck and Rubens of the Uni
versity of Berlin. While a student in
the Berlin laboratory he made sever
al discoveries which were received
and published by the Royal PrussiaT
Academy of Science
In Berlin Prof Nichols devised 6
new form of the radiometer by means
of which radiant energy would be
measured with great precision. After
his return to America he used this
| 4. n1.ra tfafst
and the Mount Wilson Observatory
California. in attempts largely success
full to measure the heat from the stars
and planets.
In 1898 DR. Nichols was called tC
the professorsnip of physics in Dart
mouth college. During the first two
years at Dartmouth he made the first
measurements of the heat received
from severai of the brighter stars and
| planets by using his own radiometer
! These experiments are admittedly the
most sensitive and delicate measure
ments of heat which have ever been
made.
Professor Nichols, working with
Professor Gordon F. Hull in 1901 dis
covered the pressure or a beam of
! light. This discovery and the diff
cult and accurate measurement of the
new force won immediate and world
wide recognition for both men. After
five years at Dartmouth Dr. Nichols
was called to the chair of experiment
tai physics in Columbia, but before
ne assumed his new duties, Dartmouth
gave him the honorary degree of doc
tor of science.
DR.. Nichols in 1894 married Kath-
crime Williams West of Hamilton. n
Y. They have one child, daugh.
ter