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Charles R. Cross (physicist)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charles R. Cross
Portrait of Cross by H. R. Burdick (1925)
BornMarch 29, 1848
DiedNovember 16, 1921 (1921-11-17) (aged 73)
Education
3rd Chair of the Physics Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
In office
1877–1917
Preceded byEdward Pickering
Succeeded byEdwin Bidwell Wilson

Charles Robert Cross (March 29, 1848 – November 16, 1921) was an American physicist and chair of the physics department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1877 to 1917.

Biography

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Cross was born March 29, 1848, in Troy, New York to George Cross and Lucy Ann Brown. When he was 14, his family moved to Newburyport, Massachusetts where he attended the Putnam Free School, graduating in 1865. He entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a sophomore in 1867 and graduated in 1870 with a Bachelor of Science. Following graduation, he became instructor in physics, assistant professor in 1871, and full professor in 1875. Cross became chair of the MIT physics department in 1877, after the resignation of Edward Pickering.[1][2][3][4]

In 1882, Cross developed and taught the first course in electrical engineering in the country. He instructed on telegraphy, telephony, and dynamo electric machinery. He taught this course until 1902, when he established the Department of Electrical Engineering. In 1900, Cross established a course in electrochemistry, the first in the United States. In 1913, he established a course in industrial physics.[1][2]

Cross in 1886

Cross was an authority on acoustics and musical pitch as well as the studies of telephony. He was the leading scientific expert of the Bell Telephone Company. Cross was also a lecturer on experimental physics. He lectured on subjects such as electric waves, wireless telegraphy, radioactivity, and polarized light at MIT and on light, sound, electricity at the Lowell Institute.[2]

Cross was a member of numerous academic associations, institutes, and societies. He was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, British Association for the Advancement of Science, American Academy of Arts and Sciences,[5] American Physical Society, Physical Society of France, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and American Astronomical Society. In addition, Cross was President of the Appalachian Mountain Club in 1880 and the Chairman of the Rumford Committee of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences from 1897 to 1921.[1]

Cross married Mariana Pike in 1873 (1847–1900) and had one son, Charles Robert Cross Jr. (1881–1915) who died in France during World War I. Cross died November 16, 1921, at his Pill Hill home in Brookline, Massachusetts.[2]

Cross' Brookline residence, 100 Upland Road, designed by Peabody & Stearns

Publications

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Thomson, Elihu (May 1928). "Biographical Notices: Charles Robert Cross (1848–1921)". Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 62 (9). American Academy of Arts & Sciences: 248–251 – via Internet Archive.
  2. ^ a b c d Goodwin, Harry Manley (January 1922). "Professor Charles Robert Cross". The Tech Engineering News. 11 (7). Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 176–177 – via Internet Archive.
  3. ^ Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). "Cross, Charles Robert" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
  4. ^ Rogers, Robert E., ed. (January 1922). "Charles Robert Cross". The Technology Review. XXIV (1). Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 22–30 – via Internet Archive.
  5. ^ "Charles Robert Cross". American Academy of Arts & Sciences Member Directory. American Academy of Arts & Sciences.