1915 Frank Morton Simpson
Frank Morton Simpson was born at Clifford, Pennsylvania, on November 8, 1872. After attending the Montrose High School from 1888 to 1890, he entered the Bucknell Academy to complete college entrance requirements and at the same time he entered the college. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Bucknell in 1895 and a Master of Science degree in biology in 1897. He was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity. From September 1895 to June 1898, he taught biology, chemistry and physics at Hall Institute in Sharon, Pennsylvania; from September 1898 to June 1900, he taught the same subjects at Delaware Academy, Delhi, New York. In September 1900 he returned to Lewisburg to teach these subjects in the Academy. In 1902, he was appointed Instructor in Mechanical Drawing in the College and the following year he became Instructor in Physics and Mechanical Drawing. In 1904, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Physics and he was promoted to Professor of Physics in 1908. During the summers of 1896 and 1897, he worked at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, Biological Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island. During the eight consecutive summers from 1898 to 1905, he did graduate work in physics at Cornell University. In 1919, when Physics was officially separated from Mathematics, Professor Simpson was appointed the Head of the Department of Physics. Professor Simpson was the author of two books: Experimental Physics, a text for students taking first-year laboratory work and Advanced Laboratory Practice, a text for advanced laboratory work. He was elected a foundation member of the Bucknell chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in 1940. He retired in 1942, after teaching for forty-two years at Bucknell. Frank Morton Simpson died on April 10, 1957 at the age of eighty-four. He is buried in the Lewisburg Cemetery. He was involved in several building projects on the campus. He designed and supervised the construction of the memorial steps in front of Old Main for the Class of 1904. He did the same for the memorial columns at the main entrance to the campus near the President’s house for the Class of 1905. He supervised the erection of the memorial clock tower on West College for the Class of 1907. Frank Morton Simpson was very active in community affairs. He was instrumental in the founding of the Citizen’s Electric Company of Lewisburg in 1911. He was elected to the board of directors in that year; in 1923, he became vice president; in 1931, he was elected president; and, in 1954 he became chairman of the board. He was President of both the Union National Bank and the Lewisburg Gas Company. He served for many years as a member of the Lewisburg School Board and was an officer in the Beaver Memorial Methodist Church. This photograph is taken from the 1920 L'Agenda