William Houston (19.01.1900-22.07.1968) was an American physicist and a member of the National Academy of Sciences (1943). He was born in Mount Gilead. He graduated from Ohio University (1925). In 1925-46 he worked at the California Institute of Technology (professor from 1931), and in 1946 —61 he was professor and president of Rice University in Houston (Texas).
His work was in the field of atomic spectroscopy, interferometry, solid-state physics, quantum mechanics, mathematical physics, superconductivity and nuclear physics. In 1927 he determined the mass of the proton. He proposed a method (1927) of increasing the contrast of the spectrum pattern obtained with a Fabry — Perot interferometer.
President of the American Physical Society (1962).