Since 1930, when Karl T. Compton became president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, about 500 graduate students have been awarded doctoral degrees in physics by MIT. This corresponds to more than a twentieth of the total output of ScD's and PhD's in physics in the United States during these thirty years. In connection with the Institute's Centennial Celebration this year the administration has instituted a number of historical surveys of students and alumni. Because the doctoral alumni in physics since 1930 constitute a large enough sample for statistical validity and because records of these alumni are fairly complete and uniform in quality throughout the period, a detailed study of this group was authorized.