Robert A. Millikan
Professor Robert Andrews Millikan
Born	March 22, 1868(1868-03-22) Morrison, Illinois, U.S.
Died	December 19, 1953 (aged 85) San Marino, California, U.S.
Residence	U.S.
Nationality	American
Field	Physicist
Institutions
Alma mater	Oberlin College Columbia University
Academic advisor	Michael Pupin Albert Michelson
Notable students	William Pickering
Known for	Charge on the electron & advanced work on cosmic ray physics
Notable prizes	Nobel Prize for Physics (1923)
Religion	Congregationalist [1]

Professor Robert Andrews Millikan (March 22, 1868 – December 19, 1953) was an American experimental physicist who won the 1923 Nobel Prize for his measurement of the charge on the electron and for his work on the photoelectric effect. He later studied cosmic rays. Robert Sanderson Mulliken (June 7, 1896 – October 31, 1986) was an American physicist and chemist, primarily responsible for the elaboration of the molecular orbital method of computing the structure of molecules. ... Portrait of physicist Robert Millikan photograph by Clark Millikan, 1891 File links The following pages link to this file: Robert Millikan ... is the 81st day of the year (82nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1868 (MDCCCLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Monday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Morrison is a city located in Whiteside County, Illinois. ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Largest metro area Greater Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Not to be confused with physician, a person who practices medicine. ... Oberlin College is a small liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, in the United States. ... Alma Mater Columbia University in the City of New York is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. ... Mihajlo Pupin. ... Albert Abraham Michelson. ... Image File history File links Nobel_prize_medal. ... William Pickering (April 2, 1796 – 1854), British publisher and bookseller (biography: Keynes, Geoffrey Kt. ... For other uses, see Electron (disambiguation). ... Cosmic rays can loosely be defined as energetic particles originating outside of the Earth. ... Image File history File links Nobel_prize_medal. ... List of Nobel Prize laureates in Physics from 1901 to the present day. ... Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation indepedently and autonomously runs its own affairs. ... is the 81st day of the year (82nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1868 (MDCCCLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Monday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor demonstrates the Meissner effect. ... List of Nobel Prize laureates in Physics from 1901 to the present day. ... For other uses, see Electron (disambiguation). ... A diagram illustrating the emission of electrons from a metal plate, requiring energy gained from an incoming photon to be more than the work function of the material. ... Cosmic rays can loosely be defined as energetic particles originating outside of the Earth. ...

Biography

Education

Millikan received a Bachelor's degree in the classics from Oberlin College in 1891 and his doctorate in physics from Columbia University in 1895 – he was the first to earn a Ph.D. from that department. For other degrees, see Academic degree. ... For other uses, see Classics (disambiguation). ... Oberlin College is a small liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, in the United States. ... A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor demonstrates the Meissner effect. ... Alma Mater Columbia University in the City of New York is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. ...

"At the close of my sophomore year [...] my Greek professor [...] asked me to teach the course in elementary physics in the preparatory department during the next year. To my reply that I did not know any physics at all, his answer was, 'Anyone who can do well in my Greek can teach physics.' 'All right,' said I, 'you will have to take the consequences, but I will try and see what I can do with it.' I at once purchased an Avery’s Elements of Physics, and spent the greater part of my summer vacation of 1889 at home – trying to master the subject. [...] I doubt if I have ever taught better in my life than in my first course in physics in 1889. I was so intensely interested in keeping my knowledge ahead of that of the class that they may have caught some of my own interest and enthusiasm."

Millikan's enthusiasm for education continued throughout his career, and he was the coauthor of a popular and influential series of introductory textbooks,^[2] which were ahead of their time in many ways. Compared to other books of the time, they treated the subject more in the way in which it was thought about by physicists. They also included many homework problems that asked conceptual questions, rather than simply requiring the student to plug numbers into a formula. Year 1889 (MDCCCLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...

• spouse = Greta Ervin Blanchard (m. 1902)
• children = Clark Blanchard, Glenn Allen, and Max Franklin

Charge of the electron

Starting in 1909, while a professor at the University of Chicago, Millikan and Harvey Fletcher worked on his oil-drop experiment (since repeated, with varying degrees of success, by generations of physics students) in which he measured the charge on a single electron. After a publication on his first results^[3] in 1910, contradictory observations by Felix Ehrenhaft^[4] started a controversy between the two physicists. After improving his setup he published his seminal study in 1913.^[5] The meaning of the word professor (Latin: one who claims publicly to be an expert) varies. ... The University of Chicago is a private university located principally in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. ... Harvey Fletcher (September 11, 1884 - July 23, 1981) was an American physicist. ... The purpose of Robert Millikan and Harvey Fletchers oil-drop experiment (1909) was to measure the electric charge of the electron. ... For other uses, see Electron (disambiguation). ... Felix Ehrenhaft (April 24, 1879 - March 4, 1952) was an Austrian-Hungarian physicist known for his maverick style and controversy. ...

The so-called elementary charge is one of the fundamental physical constants and accurate knowledge of its value is of great importance. His experiment measured the force on tiny charged droplets of oil suspended against gravity between two metal electrodes. Knowing the electric field, the charge on the droplet could be determined. Repeating the experiment for many droplets, Millikan showed that the results could be explained as integer multiples of a common value (1.592 × 10⁻¹⁹ coulomb), the charge on a single electron. That this is somewhat lower than the modern value of 1.602 176 53(14) x 10⁻¹⁹ coulomb is probably due to Millikan's use of an inaccurate value for the viscosity of air. The elementary charge (symbol e or sometimes q) is the electric charge carried by a single proton, or equivalently, the negative of the electric charge carried by a single electron. ... In science, a physical constant is a physical quantity whose numerical value does not change. ... The integers are commonly denoted by the above symbol. ... The coulomb (symbol: C) is the SI unit of electric charge. ... The elementary charge (symbol e or sometimes q) is the electric charge carried by a single proton, or equivalently, the negative of the electric charge carried by a single electron. ... The coulomb (symbol: C) is the SI unit of electric charge. ... For other uses, see Viscosity (disambiguation). ... “Air” redirects here. ...

Although at the time of Millikan's oil drop experiments it was becoming clear that there exist such things as subatomic particles, not everyone was convinced. Experimenting with cathode rays in 1897, J.J. Thomson had discovered negatively charged 'corpuscles', as he called them, with a mass 1/1840 times smaller than that of a hydrogen atom. Similar results had been found by George FitzGerald and Walter Kaufmann. Most of what was then known about electricity and magnetism, however, could be explained on the basis that charge is a continuous variable; in much the same way that many of the properties of light can be explained by treating it as a continuous wave rather than as a stream of photons. Sir Joseph John Thomson, OM , FRS (December 18, 1756 – August 30, 1940) often known as J. J. Thomson, was an English physicist, the discoverer of the electron. ... George FitzGerald George Francis FitzGerald, or Fitzgerald, (3 August 1851 – 22 February 1901) was a professor of natural and experimental philosophy (i. ... Walter Arnold Kaufmann (July 1, 1921 - September 4, 1980) was a 20th-century Jewish German philosopher, scholar, and poet. ...

The beauty of the oil drop experiment is that as well as allowing quite accurate determination of the fundamental unit of charge Millikan's apparatus also provides a 'hands on' demonstration that charge is actually quantised. Thomas Edison, who had previously thought that charge is a continuous variable, became convinced otherwise after having a go with Millikan's apparatus. “Edison” redirects here. ...

There is some controversy over the use of selectivity in Millikan's results of his second experiment measuring the electron charge. This work was done by Allan Franklin, a former high energy experimentalist and current philosopher of science at the University of Colorado. Franklin contends that, while Millikan's exclusions of data do not affect the final value of the charge of an e⁻ that he obtained, there was substantial "cosmetic surgery" that Millikan performed which had the effect of reducing the statistical error on the charge of an e⁻. This enabled Millikan to quote the figure that he had calculated the charge of e⁻ to better than one half of one percent; in fact, if Millikan had included all of the data he threw out, it would have been within 2%. While this would still have resulted in Millikan having measured the charge of e⁻ better than anyone else at the time, the slightly larger uncertainty might have allowed more disagreement with his results within the physics community, which Millikan likely tried to avoid. The University of Colorado at Boulder (CU-Boulder, UCB officially[3]; Colorado and CU colloquially) is the flagship university of the University of Colorado System in Boulder, Colorado. ...

Photoelectric effect

When Einstein published his seminal 1905 paper on the particle theory of light, Millikan was convinced that it had to be wrong, because of the vast body of evidence that had already shown that light was a wave. He undertook a decade-long experimental program to test Einstein's theory, which required building what he described as "a machine shop in vacuo" in order to prepare the very clean metal surface of the photo electrode. His results confirmed Einstein's predictions in every detail, but Millikan was not convinced of Einstein's radical interpretation, and as late as 1916 he wrote, "Einstein's photoelectric equation... cannot in my judgment be looked upon at present as resting upon any sort of a satisfactory theoretical foundation," even though "it actually represents very accurately the behavior" of the photoelectric effect. In his 1950 autobiography, however, he simply declared that his work "scarcely permits of any other interpretation than that which Einstein had originally suggested, namely that of the semi-corpuscular or photon theory of light itself." “Einstein” redirects here. ... A wave is a disturbance that propagates through space or spacetime, transferring energy and momentum and sometimes angular momentum. ...

Since Millikan's work formed some of the basis for modern particle physics, it is ironic that he was rather conservative in his opinions about 20th century developments in physics, as in the case of the photon theory. Another example is that his textbook, as late as the 1927 version, unambiguously states the existence of the ether, and mentions Einstein's theory of relativity only in a noncommittal note at the end of the caption under Einstein's portrait, stating as the last in a list of accomplishments that he was "author of the special theory of relativity in 1905 and of the general theory of relativity in 1914, both of which have had great success in explaining otherwise unexplained phenomena and in predicting new ones." He is also credited with measuring the value of Planck's constant by using photoelectric emission graphs of various metals.

Later life

In 1917, solar astronomer George Ellery Hale convinced Millikan to begin spending several months each year at the Throop College of Technology, a small academic institution in Pasadena, California that Hale wished to transform into a major center for scientific research and education. A few years later Throop College became the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and Millikan left the University of Chicago in order to become Caltech's "chairman of the executive council" (effectively its president). Millikan would serve in that position from 1921 to 1945. At Caltech most of his scientific research focused on the study of "cosmic rays" (a term which he coined). In the 1930s he entered into a debate with Arthur Compton over whether cosmic rays were composed of high-energy photons (Millikan's view) or charged particles (Compton's view). Millikan thought the cosmic ray photons were the "birth cries" of new atoms continually being created by God to counteract entropy and prevent the heat death of the universe. Compton would eventually be proven right by the observation that cosmic rays are deflected by the Earth's magnetic field (and so must be charged particles). George Ellery Hale, Sc. ... Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. ... The California Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Caltech)[1] is a private, coeducational research university located in Pasadena, California, in the United States. ... The University of Chicago is a private university located principally in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. ... Cosmic rays can loosely be defined as energetic particles originating outside of the Earth. ... The 1930s (years from 1930–1939) were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression, also known as the World Depression. ... Arthur Holly Compton (September 10, 1892 – March 15, 1962) won the Nobel Prize in Physics (1927) for discovery of the Compton effect named in his honor. ... Robert Millikan pursued the theory of birth cries of atoms for many years, to explain the origin of cosmic rays. ... For a less technical and generally accessible introduction to the topic, see Introduction to entropy. ... The heat death is a possible final state of the universe, in which it has run down to a state of no free energy to sustain motion or life. ... For other senses of this word, see magnetism (disambiguation). ...

Robert Millikan was Vice Chairman of the National Research Council during World War I. During that time, he helped to develop anti-submarine and meteorological devices. He received the Chinese Order of Jade. In his private life, Millikan was an enthusiastic tennis player. He was married and had three sons, the eldest of whom, Clark B. Millikan, became a prominent aerodynamic engineer. For other uses, see Tennis (disambiguation). ... For the Daft Punk song, see Aerodynamic (song). ...

In his later life he became interested in the relationship between Christian faith and science, his own father having been a minister. He dealt with this in his Terry Lectures at Yale in 1926–7, published as Evolution in Science and Religion.^[6] A more controversial belief of his was eugenics. This led to his association with the Human Betterment Foundation and his praising of San Marino, California for being "the westernmost outpost of Nordic civilization . . . [with] a population which is twice as Anglo-Saxon as that existing in New York, Chicago or any of the great cities of this country." ^[7] YALE (Yet Another Learning Environment) is an environment for machine learning experiments and data mining. ... The Human Betterment Foundation (HBF) was an American eugenics organization established in Pasadena, California in 1928 by E.S. Gosney with the aim to foster and aid constructive and educational forces for the protection and betterment of the human family in body, mind, character, and citizenship. It primarily served to... Location of San Marino in Los Angeles County, California Coordinates: , Country State County Los Angeles Government  - Mayor Matthew Lin  - City Manager Matt Ballantyne  - City Clerk Carol Robb Area  - City 9. ...

Westinghouse time capsule

In 1938, he wrote a short passage to be placed in the Westinghouse time capsule [1].

AT this moment, August 22, 1938, the principles of representative ballot government, such as are represented by the governments of the Anglo-Saxon, French, and Scandinavian countries, are in deadly conflict with the principles of despotism, which up to two centuries ago had controlled the destiny of man throughout practically the whole of recorded history. If the rational, scientific, progressive principles win out in this struggle there is a possibility of a warless, golden age ahead for mankind. If the reactionary principles of despotism triumph now and in the future, the future history of mankind will repeat the sad story of war and oppression as in the past.

Death and legacy

37 cent stamp, issued 26 Jan 1982

He died at his home in San Marino, California in 1953 and was interred in the "Court of Honor" at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Millikan Middle School (formerly Millikan Junior High School) in the suburban Los Angeles neighborhood of Sherman Oaks is named in his honor, as is Robert A. Millikan High School in Long Beach, California. The Millikan Library, the tallest building on the Caltech campus, and Caltech's Millikan Auditorium, are also named for him. He died of a heart attack at age 85. Image File history File links Robert-millikan-stamp. ... Image File history File links Robert-millikan-stamp. ... Gates of Forest Lawn Forest Lawn Memorial Park is a cemetery in Glendale, Los Angeles County, California. ... Nickname: Location of Glendale within Los Angeles County and the State of California. ... California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (commonly known as Caltech) is a private, coeducational university located in Pasadena, California, in the United States. ...

Bibliography

• Goodstein, D., "In defense of Robert Andrews Millikan", Engineering and Science, 2000. No 4, pp30-38 (pdf).
• Millikan, R A (1950) The Autobiography of Robert Millikan
• Nobel Lectures, "Robert A. Millikan – Nobel Biography". Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam.
• Segerstråle, U (1995) Good to the last drop? Millikan stories as “canned” pedagogy, Science and Engineering Ethics vol 1, pp197-214
• Robert Andrews Millikan "Robert A. Millikan – Nobel Biography".
• The NIST Reference on Constants, Units, and Uncertainty

See also

• Nobel Prize controversies

Robert Millikan is widely believed to have been denied the 1920 prize for physics owing to Felix Ehrenhaft's claims to have measured charges smaller than Millikan's elementary charge. Ehrenhaft's claims were ultimately dismissed and Millikan was awarded the prize in 1923. The Nobel Prize controversies are contentious disputes regarding the Nobel Prize. ...

Notes

1. ^ ["Millikan, Robert Andrew"], Who's Who in America v.15, 1928-1929, p. 1486, Retrieved on June 13, 2007
2. ^ The books, coauthored with Henry Gordon Gale, were A First Course in Physics (1906), Practical Physics (1920), Elements of Physics (1927), and New Elementary Physics (1936).
3. ^ R.A. Millikan, A new modification of the cloud method of determining the elementary electrical charge and the most probable value of that charge, Phys. Mag. XIX, 6(1910), p. 209
4. ^ Ehrenhaft F., Über die Kleinsten Messbaren Elektrizitätsmengen, Phys. Zeit., 10(1910), p. 308
5. ^ R.A. Millikan, On the Elementary Electric charge and the Avagadro Constant, Phys. Rev. II, 2(1913), p. 109
6. ^ Evolution in Science and Religion (1927), 1973 edition: Kennikat Press, ISBN 0-80461702-3
7. ^ "Judgment At Pasadena", Washington Post, March 16, 2000, p. C1, Retrieved on March 30, 2007

Marquis Whos Who is a US publisher of a number of books containing short biographical sketches of celebrated persons. ... Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 164th day of the year (165th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ... Henry Gordon Gale (September 12, 1874 - November 16, 1942) was an American astrophysicist and author. ... ... March 16 is the 75th day of the year (76th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 89th day of the year (90th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ...

References and further reading

Books

• Waller, John, "Einstein's Luck: The Truth Behind Some of the Greatest Scientific Discoveries". Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-19-860719-9
• Physics paper On the Elementary Electrical Charge and the Avogadro Constant (extract) http://www.aip.org/history/gap/
• Works by Robert Millikan at Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive and distribute cultural works. ...

External links

• "Famous Iowans," by Tom Longdon
• Illustrated Millikan biography Retrieved from Internet Archive on March 30, 2007