Wellington Amos Parlin (1899-1996)

Wellington Parlin was born in Des Moines, Iowa on January 19, 1899. He graduated from Simpson College in 1921 with a bachelor of arts degree and continued at the University of Iowa where he earned his master of sciences degree in 1922. He taught at Emory University as an instructor in physics between 1923 and 1926, before attending Johns Hopkins University to earn his doctorate in 1929.

Parlin began his career at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in 1930 as an associate professor of physics. The College promoted him to full professor in 1934. During his time at the College, Parlin conducted research in his main interest, the properties of light. In 1935, he invented an intensitometer, a machine to give variable and known intensities of light without changing the color values. He also developed a set of color filters, which were used to determine the degree of color blindness.

In 1948, Parlin was appointed chair of the physics department. He was also a faculty advisor to the Mohler Scientific Club and the Phi Beta Kappa honorary society. In 1955, he retired from the College with the status of professor emeritus of physics.

Parlin was a veteran of both the First and Second World War. He was married and had four daughters. Wellington Amos Parlin died on September 8, 1996, at the age of 97.