[2] Swann left Sheffield in 1913, when he went to the United States to join the Carnegie Institute, becoming head of the Physical Division of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism.
E. O. Lawrence, the 1939 Nobel Laureate in Physics, was one of Swann's graduate students at the University of Minnesota and followed his professor to Chicago and then New Haven.
Among his first acts as director was to arrange a contract to locate the foundation at Swarthmore College, which is fairly close to Philadelphia.
[5][6] He is particularly noted for his research into cosmic rays, high-energy particle physics and Quantum mechanics.
In addition to being a physicist, Swann was also an accomplished cellist, having studied under Diran Alexanian, a collaborator of Pablo Casals.