Summary of Recent Measurements of the Compton Effect

The use of newly developed experimental techniques has led to the performance of experiments that have verified with relatively high precision both the assumptions and predictions of the quantum theory of the Compton effect. Several of these recent experiments, including some on the simultaneity of appearance of the scattered photon and recoil electron, the conservation of energy and momentum and the differential and total scattering cross sections, are briefly described. Their results are compared with those of earlier experiments and with theory to indicate the degree of severity with which the theory is presently tested.