Stratton, Samuel (Wesley) (1861–1931)

US educator. In 1892 he went to the newly opened University of Chicago, taught physics, researched its application to engineering, and planned and supervised the construction of Ryerson laboratories there. In 1900 he wrote a proposal for a Bureau of Standards. His proposed legislation was adopted in 1901. The Bureau was located within the Department of Commerce with Stratton as its first director.

He was born in Litchfield, Illinois. He studied mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois. By 1891 he was teaching physics. In 1923 he became president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, becoming chairman of the corporation in 1930. He died suddenly on the same day as his friend Thomas Alva Edison, while dictating Edison's eulogy.