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In Memoriam: Robert N. Compton, 1934 - 2024
Feb 27, 2024
Robert N. Compton, Optica Fellow and William F. Meggers Award recipient, passed away on 27 February 2024 at the age of 85. He was known for his research in atomic and molecular physics, particularly in nonlinear laser spectroscopy and the physics of negative ions.
Born in Metropolis, Illinois, on 28 November 1938, his early fascination with science led him to take apart a radio to understand its function. In 1943, his family relocated to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where his father contributed to the Manhattan Project at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Compton graduated from Oak Ridge High School and traveled throughout east Tennessee, teaching others about physics and electronics through Tesla coil demonstrations.
Compton went to Berea College in Kentucky, earning his physics BA and meeting his future wife Margaret Milinda (Byrd). After his undergraduate studies, he pursued his MS in physics at the University of Florida and a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee. His summers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) led him to a 30-year career where he served as a group leader in molecular physics in the Health Sciences Research Division.
Post-ORNL, Compton joined the University of Tennessee as Professor of Physics and Zeigler Professor of Chemistry until his retirement in 2015. He advised more than 40 graduate students and post-doctoral scientists during his tenure.
Compton spent his retirement writing and publishing two books: Laser Experiments for Chemistry and Physics, cowritten with Michael A. Duncan, and Raman Spectroscopy Under Liquid Nitrogen (RUN), cowritten with Ethan C. Lambert, J. Stewart Hager, and Nathan I. Hammer. In addition, he presented talks on lasers, the universe, and the science and history of the Manhattan Project.
Compton was recognized for his achievements by Optica in 1992 when he was named a Fellow, and in 1995 for the William F. Meggers Award “for seminal contributions to the understanding of atomic and negative ions (especially doubly-charged anions) and to the field of multiphoton excitation processes in the gas phase.” ORNL also named Compton a Corporate Fellow in 1986 and a Senior Corporate Fellow in 1995.
He is survived by his wife Milinda, his children Jana and Derek Compton, Amy Horner, and Anne Wilkerson.
Optica and the scientific community mourn his loss.
