Bridgman, Chafee May Be University Professors

Percy W. Bridgman '04, Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, and Zechariah Chafee, Langdell Professor of Law, are slated for promotion to University Professors, it was learned last night.

Final action will not be taken by the Overseers until next month, it was reported, but the appointments are expected to be approved automatically.

University professorships, the highest teaching positions at Harvard, allow their holders complete freedom in their work with sufficient endowment for assistants and other expenses of study.

Bridgman and Chafee, should their appointments be confirmed, would be free to teach in any part of the University.

Reports indicate that Chafee may offer a course on law for undergraduates next year and that Bridgman will teach a special small course outside the Natural Sciences.

The four present University professorships are held by economist Summer H. Slichter, humanist Ivor A. Richards, classicist Werner Jaeger, and biochemist Edwin H. Cohn.

Only four University chairs have existed since the positions were established in 1935. There is no restriction, however, to prevent increasing the number of posts.

Bridgman won a Nobel Prize in 1946 for his work in "high pressure physics."

Chafee, noted for his interest in civil liberties, has been at the Law School since 1916. He reached his present post in 1938.