Arthur Williams Wright. 361 



AKTHUR WILLIAMS WEIGHT. 



Professor Arthur Williams Wright, of Yale University, 

 died at his home in JSTew Haven, Conn., on December 19, 1915. 

 He was born on September 8, 1836, in Lebanon, Conn., where 

 his father, Jesse Wright, at one time a member of the Con- 

 necticut House of Representatives, served as justice of the 

 peace, selectman, and a member of the school board. Samuel 

 Wright, who settled in Springfield, Mass., in 1639, was his 

 earliest paternal ancestor in this country. His mother was 

 Harriet, daughter of William Williams and a descendant of 

 Robert Williams, who came to this country from England in 

 1637, settling at Roxbury, Mass. 



He received his early education in his native town, prepar- 

 ing for college, under William Kinne, at Canterbury. His 

 career as an undergraduate at Yale College was a distinguished 

 one. He not only achieved notable successes as a scholar in 

 mathematics and astronomy, the studies of his predilection, 

 and in Latin, also, but he was prominent in undergraduate 

 social life. A life-long love for music naturally led him to 

 identify himself with the musical organizations of his time, 

 and a critical knowledge of music, including an enviable skill 

 in performance, added largely to the pleasures of his later and 

 more leisurely life. 



After graduation with the class of 1859, he continued his 

 studies at Yale, specializing in mathematics and science, and 

 in 1861 he received the degree of Ph.D., the earliest award of 

 this degree in course in this country. From this time, until 

 his retirement from active work in 1906, his life was identified 

 with Yale except for a period in 1868-1869, when he studied 

 at Heidelberg and at Berlin, and the three years 1869-1872, 

 during which he held a professorship of physics and chemistry 

 at Williams College. 



His connection with the Yale Faculty began in 1863 when 

 he was appointed tutor, teaching Latin for three years and 

 natural philosophy from 1866 to 1868. It is also interesting 

 to note that while tutor he pursued the study of law and was 

 admitted to the bar in 1866 though he never practiced. In 

 1872 he returned to Yale from Williams College to be professor 

 of molecular physics and chemistry. This chair (to which he 



