James Raymond Lawson
James Raymond Lawson | |
---|---|
Born | January 15, 1915 Infrared Spectroscopy |
Thesis | The Infrafed Absorption Spectra Of A Number Of Heavy Tetrahedral Molecules With Substituted Groups And A Study Of Hindered Rotation In Methyl Alcohol (1939) |
James Raymond Lawson (January 15, 1915 – December 21, 1996) was an American physicist and university administrator. He was the president of Fisk University, a historically black university in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1967 to 1975.
Early life
James Raymond Lawson was born on January 15, 1915, in Louisville, Kentucky.[1] His father, Daniel LaMont Lawson, was a Fisk alumnus, Fisk Jubilee Singer and an academic dean at Simmons College.[1][2]
Lawson attended Fisk University, where he conducted research in the field of infrared spectroscopy under the mentorship of Elmer S. Imes.[2] He was a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and was elected to the academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa.[1][2] He was the first student to graduate from Fisk with a bachelor's degree in physics, doing so in 1935.[2][3] He attended the University of Michigan on a Rosenwald Fellowship, where he earned a PhD in physics in 1939.[2] His thesis was titled "The Infrared Absorption Spectra of a Number of Heavy Tetrahedral Molecules with Substituted Groups and a Study of Hindered Rotation in Methyl Alcohol."[4]
Career
Lawson was an assistant professor of physics at Southern University from 1939 to 1940, and an associate professor at Langston University from 1940 to 1942.[2] He became an associate professor and chair of the physics department at his alma mater, Fisk University, in 1942.[2] There, he established the Fisk Infrared Research Laboratory and, together with fellow physicist Nelson Fuson, began the Fisk Infrared Spectroscopy Institute in 1950.[3][5][2]
The graduate students that Lawson mentored at Fisk presented their research at conferences of the American Physical Society and American Chemical Society, effectively integrating them.[3][2]
From 1955 to 1957, he was the chair of the physics department at Tennessee A & I University, later known as Tennessee State University.[2] He became a full professor and chair of the physics department at Fisk University in 1957, and the vice president from 1966 to 1967.[2]
Lawson was the president of Fisk University from 1967 to 1975.
Lawson subsequently worked for the Energy Research and Development Administration and NASA in Washington, D.C.[2] He also served on the board of the Oak Ridge Associated Universities, and he was a member of the American Institute of Physics, the American Association of Physics Teachers, and the American Physical Society.[2]
Lawson was awarded an honorary Ph.D. from Fisk University in May 1996. [6]
Death
Lawson married Lillian Arcaeneaux; they had two sons and two daughters.[2] He resided in Nashville, where he died on December 21, 1996, at age 81.[7] His funeral was held at the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church.[7]
References
- ^ OCLC 974769277.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q deGregory, Crystal A. "JAMES RAYMOND LAWSON (1915–1996)" (PDF). Profiles of African Americans in Tennessee. Tennessee State University. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
- ^ doi:10.1063/1.881945.
- OCLC 68302495, 1136879071.
- ^ a b "Presidents of historically black colleges and universities 1837–2013". Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- ^ Newspapers.com.