Morton Masius (October 6, 1883,

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– November 1, 1979,

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) was a German-American physical chemist. He was elected a Fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

in 1928.

Biography

His parents were Alfred Masius, a translator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and his wife Edith, née Bailey. Morton Massius's paternal grandfather was

Hermann Masius Hermann Masius (7 January 1818 – 22 May 1893) was a German educator who was a native of Trebnitz (today a borough of Könnern). He studied theology in University of Halle, Halle, and later was director of a gymnasium in Halberstadt. In 1860 he ...

, a professor of pedagogy. Morton Masius attended the humanistic St. Thomas School, Leipzig. After completing his ''

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

'', he studied

physical chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mecha ...

at the

Leipzig University Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

and received in 1908 his

Dr. rer. nat. ''Doctor rerum naturalium'' ( for, , Latin, doctor of natural sciences, lit. 'doctor of the things of nature'), abbreviated Dr. rer. nat., is a doctoral academic degree awarded by universities in some European countries (e.g. Germany, Austria and C ...

(Ph.D.) with a dissertation supervised by Herbert Max Finlay Freundlich. In 1910 in Leipzig, Morton Masius married Paula Marie Wagner, daughter of a wealthy Leipzig family. They had two daughters, Marguerite (1917–2008) and Vera Mildred (1919–2006). From 1908 to 1909 he was a Whiting Postdoctoral Fellow at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. In 1909 he became a faculty member in the physics department of

Worcester Polytechnic Institute '' , mottoeng = "Theory and Practice" , established = , former_name = Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science (1865-1886) , type = Private research university , endowme ...

(WPI), where he was promoted in 1919 to full professor. Later he became head of the physics department. He retired as professor emeritus in 1954. He is perhaps best known for his 1914 translation of the 1913 2nd edition of

Max Planck Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (, ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918. Planck made many substantial contributions to theoretical p ...

's 1906 ''Vorlesungen über die Theorie der Wärmestrahlung''. Masius was a member of the

American Association of Physics Teachers The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) was founded in 1930 for the purpose of "dissemination of knowledge of physics, particularly by way of teaching." There are more than 10,000 members in over 30 countries. AAPT publications includ ...

and the

Society for Freedom in Science Academic freedom is a moral and legal concept expressing the conviction that the freedom of inquiry by faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy as well as the principles of academia, and that scholars should have freedom to teach ...

. His grave is in Worcester Rural Cemetery.

Selected publications

''Über die Adsorption in Gemischen''
Noske, Leipzig 1908. (Massius's dissertation, Universität Leipzig)
''Problems in General Physics for College Courses''
P. Blakiston's Son and Co., Philadelphia 1917. *
''College Physics''
Longmans, Green and Co., New York 1941; as co-author with Alexander Wilmer Duff (1864–1955) : as translator: *

: ''The Theory of Heat Radiation''. P. Blakiston's Son and Co, Philadelphia 1914, with 7 illustrations. (translated into English from ''Vorlesungen über die Theorie der Wärmestrahlung''). *

Louis Rougier Louis Auguste Paul Rougier (; 10 April 1889 – 14 October 1982) was a French philosopher. Rougier made many important contributions to epistemology, philosophy of science, political philosophy and the history of Christianity. Early life Rougie ...

: ''Philosophy and the New Physics. An Essay on the Relativity Theory and the Theory of Quanta'', P. Blakiston's Son and Co, Philadelphia 1921. (translated into English from ''La matérialisation de l'énergie: essai sur la théorie de la relativité et sur la théorie des quanta'')

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Masius, Morton 1883 births 1979 deaths 20th-century American chemists People educated at the St. Thomas School, Leipzig Leipzig University alumni Worcester Polytechnic Institute faculty Fellows of the American Physical Society 20th-century American translators American people of German descent Burials at Rural Cemetery (Worcester, Massachusetts)