FORMER PRESIDENT NICHOLS CHOSEN HEAD OF M. I. T.

The election of Dr. Ernest Fox Nichols, former president of Dartmouth College, as president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was announced by the corporation of the institute, March 31. He will take office July 1.

Dr. Nichols has been professor of physics at Yale University, and has been engaged in private research work for the last year. He will succeed the late Dr. Richard T. Maclaurin, who died more than a year ago.

Ernest Fox Nichols received his Bachelor of Science degree from Kansas Agricultural College and first studied as a graduate student at Cornell. He was given the degrees of 'Master of Science and Doctor of Science from this institution.

From 1892 to 1898, he was professor of physics and astronomy at Colgate, leaving there to come to Dartmouth in the same capacity. The position of professor of experimental physics attracted him in 1903 to Columbia, where he remained for some time.

A year as lecturer in Cambridge and London and a great deal of experimental work and research occupied his time up to 1909, when he was called to the presidency of Dartmouth College, upon the resignation of Dr. William Jewett Tucker.

Doctor Nichols came to Dartmouth when it had barely completed the growth that trebled its numbers in a decade. He found the problems before him those of business administration, of making the College an efficient public servant — and he solved them capably. During his stay, Dr. Nichols saw the College grow from 1100 to 1500.

When Dr. Nichols assumed the presidency of Dartmouth,, he expected that his administrative duties would allow him some time for further research in the field of physics. Finding such a division of attention impossible, he announced his resignation Nov. 21, 1915, explaining his desire for further investigatory work. He withdrew at the close of the.college year, June, 1916, leaving the College "an educational and administrative organization adequate and harmonious."

Since leaving Dartmouth, Dr. Nichols has been head of the physics department of Yale University, and lately has been interested in research work with the General Electric Company.

One of Dr. Nichols' most valuable contributions to his science was the discovery of the pressure of a light beam, made in 1901 while he was on the Dartmouth faculty.

Dr. Nichols is a member of several scientific societies and has made valuable contributions to the literature of his particular field.