Colby, Walter F., 1880-1970

Walter F. Colby was a professor of physics at the University of Michigan. He was born in Rockford, Michigan in 1880, and attended high school in Muskegon. He earned his bachelor of arts degree at the University of Michigan in 1901 and the doctor of philosophy degree in 1909. He has also studied abroad at the University of Vienna and did research in Tubingen, Munich, Hamburg, and the Bohr Institute, in Copenhagen.

In 1906, Colby was appointed an assistant in the department of physics of the University of Michigan. He became full professor in 1919. During World War II, Colby participated in an army intelligence mission to Paris and Germany. In 1947 he was awarded the Medal of Freedom in recognition of this service and he received the Order of the British Empire in 1948.

He was a member of American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Phi Beta Kappa.

In 1929 Professor Colby married Martha Guernsey, associate professor of psychology at the University of Michigan.

He died on July 2, 1970 in Washington, D.C.