Dr. Karl Taylor Compton was president of MIT from 1930-1948 and chairman of the MIT Corporation from 1948 until his death in 1954. Born in Ohio in 1887, President Compton attended the College of Wooster, earning a B.S. (1908) and an M.S. (1909) in physics, and was awarded a Ph.D. in physics in 1912 from Princeton University. Compton was head of President Roosevelt’s Office of Scientific Research and Development during World War II, overseeing the development of radar in MIT’s Radiation Lab. He received the highest civilian honor of the U.S. Army, the Medal for Merit, for helping to shorten the war. Noted throughout his life for his uncompromising integrity and his generous public spirit, Compton’s strong leadership transformed the Institute into one of the world’s leading research universities.