PRODUCER of PRODUCERS

Physicist Honored for Developing Able Colleagues

IN THE SUMMER of 1908 a young Dartmouth graduate returned to the College, discouraged after what he called a year of wasted time. He asked his former teacher, Professor Gordon Ferrie Hull, if he might be given a graduate student assistantship in the Physics Department. He hoped to regain what he feared he had lost—his interest and enthusiasm for the career he had chosen.

Helped by the understanding and willing guidance of Professor Hull, who at that time was working on problems connected with the recent dramatic developments in "wireless," the young student regained an enthusiasm and impetus that were never to leave him again. But with them he retained the tenacious memory of his "wasted" year, and a determination that other useful men, who under conditions of like discouragement might not have his own good fortune of a second try, should not be lost to the profession of physics. Last April Roland Roy Tileston '07 was awarded by the American Association of Physics Teachers the Oersted Medal for "notable contributions to the teaching of physics," one of the highest honors to be conferred upon a colleague.

The achievements for which this medal are given are difficult to evaluate and more than most scholastic honors go back to a closeup of the man himself. Since the candidate is not judged for the number of books he has published or the amount of research he has done, and he himself has made no bid for widespread recognition but has been content wholeheartedly to devote his energies and abil- ities to the narrow but essential field of instruction, his record as a "producer of producers of physics" must be fully corroborated by the careers of the men he has taught, and in this, the recipient of the 1943 Oersted Medal is outstanding. "Tileston men" have made their names in many branches of physics. Of those he encouraged to continue in graduate work, thirty have M.S. degrees, and twenty-four others, Ph.D. degrees.

Professor Tileston, who is head of the Physics Department at Pomona College, in Claremont, California, and who could not leave his duties to make the long trip East at the time the medal was awarded, fittingly asked Professor Hull to receive it for him. In his remarks of acceptance, Professor Hull said, "There is one characteristic in which Tileston has excelled: he has taken care of his men. He has secured for them before their graduation, positions in which, after graduation, they could continue their study. His energy, zeal and enthusiasm have borne good and abundant fruit." A large per cent of these men have come to Dartmouth for their work.

Dr. Tileston might still be in Hanover if, in 1911, he had not sustained a serious setback in health. He went to Colorado where he served as a civil engineer from 1912 to 1913. He was made a professor of physics at Colorado College in 1913, and in 1925, upon leaving there, he was awarded an honorary Sc. D. degree. He has been head of the Physics Department at Pomona College since that time.

While building upon the interests and aims he had established for himself at Dartmouth, in the West Dr. Tileston felt a definite challenge, and the possibility of putting into practice some of his own vigorous teaching ideas. Long before the war made this subject an almost universal necessity, Professor Tileston believed, and proved, at Pomona that physics had a cultural appeal that ranked it with the most liberal of arts courses, and that, when forcibly and clearly taught, it would be popular. He was a pioneer in a unique survey course which has become so successful that each year many students who wished to take it have been turned away. It is generally agreed among those who have observed his teaching methods that one of the reasons for his success is the character and number of demonstrations used. Almost every principle is illustrated by means of a demonstration. Sound motion pictures are also extensively used. The demonstrations, handled by student assistants, are carefully rehearsed in advance so that the entire program runs smoothly and with perfect timing. In making the demonstrations appealing, emphasis has been put on the use of color, motion and large size. In the words of Kenneth Ogle, a former student of Tileston's and now assistant professor of research in physiological optics at Dartmouth, "Tileston has a genius in devising and using demonstration apparatus. His lectures involving such apparatus proceed with a precision that is conspicuous In the classroom he is a demanding teacher. He insists on high grade work and close application to details He is one of those outstanding personalities that in men's lives not only mark turning points, but also indicate the paths. It was he who started me on a career of physics."

Besides his academic work, Dr. Tileston, during the First World War, was Director of the U. S. Army Radio School at Colorado Springs. During the present war, he has been successively: director, Civil Pilot Training for Civil Aeronautics Administration (primary and advanced programs); personnel procurement officer, Naval Research Laboratory; and academic director, Army Air Forces Premeteorology Program, Pomona College.

A few of Professor Tileston's students, named by Professor Hull as having made outstanding contributions and all but two of whom did graduate work at Dartmouth, are: W. R. Smythe, professor at California Tech and the author of a substantial textbook on electricity; James Winans, professor at the University of Wisconsin; Stanley M. Livingston, of M. I. T., who, with Professor Lawrence of the University of California, was responsible for the development of one of the great instruments of modern physics, the Cyclotron; H. V. Neher, associated with Millikan in the investigation of cosmic rays; and J. B. Hoag, a Commander in the Navy and author of a notable text in Modern Physics.

Dr. Tileston's abiding loyalty to Dartmouth has been expressed by his close interest in the development of the College, and, concretely, by the large number of students he has sent on to do their graduate work in Hanover. In his modest letter of acceptance of the Oersted Medal, Tileston expressed an active ideal of service which will be understood by Dartmouth men in many fields: "There has been a stimulation in being a link in the chain of transmission of a type of knowledge and human endeavor which carries the elements of drama based on fact."

THE OERSTED MEDAL has been awarded Roland R. Tileston '07, teacher-physicist.