Robert Andrews Millikan
Robert Andrews Millikan (March 22, 1868 – December 19, 1953) was an American experimental
Millikan graduated from Oberlin College in 1891 and obtained his doctorate at Columbia University in 1895. In 1896 he became an assistant at the University of Chicago, where he became a full professor in 1910. In 1909 Millikan began a series of experiments to determine the electric charge carried by a single electron. He began by measuring the course of charged water droplets in an electric field. The results suggested that the charge on the droplets is a multiple of the elementary electric charge, but the experiment was not accurate enough to be convincing. He obtained more precise results in 1910 with his oil-drop experiment in which he replaced water (which tended to evaporate too quickly) with oil.[4]
In 1914 Millikan took up with similar skill the experimental verification of the equation introduced by
Millikan was an elected member of the American Philosophical Society,[7] the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,[8] and the United States National Academy of Sciences.[9]
Biography
Education
Robert Andrews Millikan was born on March 22, 1868, in Morrison, Illinois.[6] He went to high school in Maquoketa, Iowa and received a bachelor's degree in the classics from Oberlin College in 1891 and his doctorate in physics from Columbia University in 1895[10] – he was the first to earn a Ph.D. from that department.[11]
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.[12]
Millikan's enthusiasm for education continued throughout his career, and he was the coauthor of a popular and influential series of introductory textbooks,[13] 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.
Charge of the electron
Starting in 1908, while a professor at the University of Chicago, Millikan worked on an oil-drop experiment in which he measured the charge on a single electron. J. J. Thomson had already discovered the charge-to-mass ratio of the electron. However, the actual charge and mass values were unknown. Therefore, if one of these two values were to be discovered, the other could easily be calculated. Millikan and his then graduate student Harvey Fletcher used the oil-drop experiment to measure the charge of the electron (as well as the electron mass, and Avogadro constant, since their relation to the electron charge was known).
Professor Millikan took sole credit, in return for Harvey Fletcher claiming full authorship on a related result for his dissertation.
The
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
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 provided a 'hands on' demonstration that charge is actually quantized. General Electric Company's
Data selection controversy
There is some controversy over selectivity in Millikan's use of results from his second experiment measuring the electron charge. This issue has been discussed by
Photoelectric effect
When Albert Einstein published his 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 photoelectrode. His results, published in 1914, confirmed Einstein's predictions in every detail,[23] but Millikan was not convinced of Einstein's 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 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".[24]
Although Millikan's work formed some of the basis for modern particle physics, he was 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."
Millikan is also credited with measuring the value of Planck's constant by using photoelectric emission graphs of various metals.[25]
Later life
In 1917, solar astronomer
Millikan was Vice Chairman of the
In the aftermath of the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, Millikan chaired the Joint Technical Committee on Earthquake Protection. They authored a report proposing means to minimize life and property loss in future earthquakes by advocating stricter building codes.[30]
A religious man and the son of a minister, in his later life Millikan argued strongly for a complementary relationship between
On account of Millikan's affiliation with the Human Betterment Foundation, in January 2021, the Caltech Board of Trustees authorized removal of Millikan's name (and the names of five other historical figures affiliated with the Foundation), from campus buildings.[39]
Westinghouse time capsule
In 1938, he wrote a short passage to be placed in the Westinghouse Time Capsules.[40]
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
Millikan died of a
On January 26, 1982, he was honored by the United States Postal Service with a 37¢ Great Americans series (1980–2000) postage stamp.[41]
]Name removal from college campuses during the 21st century
During the mid to late 20th century, several colleges named buildings, physical features, awards, and professorships after Millikan. In 1958, Pomona College named a science building Millikan Laboratory in honor of Millikan. After reviewing Millikan's association with the eugenics movement, the college administration voted in October 2020 to rename the building as the Ms. Mary Estella Seaver and Mr. Carlton Seaver Laboratory.[42]
On the Caltech campus, several physical features, rooms, awards, and a professorship were named in honor of Millikan, including the Millikan Library, which was completed in 1966. In January 2021, the board of trustees voted to immediately strip Millikan's name from the Caltech campus because of his association with eugenics. The Robert A. Millikan Library has been renamed Caltech Hall.[43] In November 2021, the Robert A. Millikan Professorship was renamed the Judge Shirley Hufstedler Professorship.[44]
Possible name removal from secondary schools during the 21st century
In November 2020, Millikan Middle School (formerly Millikan Junior High School) in the suburban Los Angeles neighborhood of Sherman Oaks started the process of renaming their school.[45] In February 2022, the Board of Education for the Los Angeles Unified School District voted unanimously to rename the school in honor of musician Louis Armstrong.[46]
In August 2020, the Long Beach Unified School District established a committee that would examine the need for renaming of their Robert A. Millikan High School.[47][48] By early 2023, Long Beach remains the only city that still has an educational institution named in honor of Millikan.
Name removal from awards
In the spring of 2021, the
Personal life
In 1902 he married Greta Ervin Blanchard (1876-1955). They had three sons: Clark Blanchard, Glenn Allan, and Max Franklin.[6]
Famous statements
"If Kevin Harding's equation and Aston's curve are even roughly correct, as I'm sure they are, for Dr. Cameron and I have computed with their aid the maximum energy evolved in radioactive change and found it to check well with observation, then this supposition of an energy evolution through the disintegration of the common elements is from the one point of view a childish Utopian dream, and from the other a foolish bugaboo."[51]
"No more earnest seekers after truth, no intellectuals of more penetrating vision can be found anywhere at any time than these, and yet every one of them has been a devout and professed follower of religion."[52]
Bibliography
- Millikan, Robert Andrews (1906). Laboratory course in physics for secondary schools. Boston: Ginn.
- Millikan, Robert Andrews (1922). Practical physics. Boston: Ginn.
- 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
- Millikan, Robert Andrews (1917). The Electron: Its Isolation and Measurements and the Determination of Some of its Properties. The University of Chicago Press.
- 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
- Kevles, Daniel A (1979). "Robert A. Millikan". Scientific American. 240 (1): 142–151. .
- Kargon, Robert H (1977). "The Conservative Mode: Robert A. Millikan and the Twentieth-Century Revolution in Physics". Isis. 68 (4): 509–526. S2CID 170329412.
- Kargon, Robert H (1982). The rise of Robert Millikan: portrait of a life in American science. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
See also
- Nobel Prize controversies - 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.
- Millikan's passage announcing emerging branch of physics under the designation of quantum theory, published in Popular Science January 1927.
References
Citations
- ^ "Comstock Prize in Physics". National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on December 29, 2010. Retrieved February 13, 2011.
- ^ "Millikan, son, aide get medals of merit". New York Times. March 22, 1949. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
- ^
Bates, Charles C. & Fuller, John F. (July 1, 1986). "Chapter 2: The Rebirth of Military Meteorology". America's Weather Warriors, 1814–1985. Texas A&M University Press. pp. 17–20. ISBN 978-0890962404.
- PMID 17743310.
- ^ "ARCHIVES :: FAST FACTS ABOUT CALTECH HISTORY". archives.caltech.edu.
- ^ a b c "Robert A. Millikan - Biographical". www.nobelprize.org. Archived from the original on March 8, 2022.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
- ^ "Robert Andrews Millikan". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. February 9, 2023. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
- ^ "Robert A. Millikan". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
- .
- ^ "Robert A. Millikan". IEEE Global History Network. IEEE. Retrieved July 25, 2011.
- ^ Millikan, Robert Andrews (1980) [reprint of original 1950 edition]. The autobiography of Robert A. Millikan. Prentice-Hall. p. 14.
- ^ 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).
- (PDF) from the original on June 3, 2001.
- .
- .
- ^ Ehrenhaft, F (1910). "Über die Kleinsten Messbaren Elektrizitätsmengen". Phys. Z. 10: 308.
- .
- ^ Feynman, Richard, "Cargo Cult Science" Archived February 23, 2011, at the Wayback Machine (adapted from 1974 California Institute of Technology commencement address), Donald Simanek's Pages Archived September 2, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Lock Haven University, rev. August 2008.
- ISBN 978-0-393-31604-9. Retrieved July 10, 2010.
- S2CID 97609199.
- ^ Goodstein, David (2000). "In defense of Robert Andrews Millikan" (PDF). Engineering and Science. Pasadena, California: California Institute of Technology. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 25, 2010. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
- ^ Millikan, R. (1914). "A Direct Determination of "h."". Physical Review. 4 (1): 73–75. .
- ^ Anton Z. Capri, "Quips, quotes, and quanta: an anecdotal history of physics" (World Scientific 2007) p.96
- .
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7864-7635-0 – via Google Books.
- Université de Lausanne.
- ^ The Games of the Xth Olympiad, Los Angeles 1932 Official Report. Los Angeles: Xth Olympiade Committee of the Games of Los Angeles, U.S.A. 1932, Ltd. 1933. pp. 28, 42. Retrieved July 1, 2021 – via LA84 Foundation Digital Library.
- S2CID 1752415.
- ^ Millikan, Robert A.; Martel, R. R.; Austin, John C.; Hunt, Sumner; Witmer, David J.; Hill, Raymond A.; Labarre, R. V.; Bowen, Oliver G.; Noice, Blaine (June 7, 1933). "Long Beach Earthquake and Protection Against Future Earthquakes -- Summary of Report by Joint Technical Committee on Earthquake Protection, Dr. Robert A. Millikan, Chairman". resolver.caltech.edu. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
- OCLC 867280944.
- ^ Hunter, Preston (September 26, 2005). "The Religious Affiliation of Physicist Robert Andrews Millikan". Adherents.com. Archived from the original on March 2, 2006.
- The Nobel Foundation.
- ^ "Medicine: Science Serves God". Time. June 4, 1923. Archived from the original on December 22, 2008. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
- OCLC 1249703293.
- OCLC 26347551.
- Washington Post. p. C1. Retrieved March 30, 2007.
- S2CID 243987001.
- ^ Rosenbaum, Thomas F. "A Statement from the President". California Institute of Technology. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
- ^ The Time Capsule. Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company. September 23, 1938. p. 46.
- ^ "37c Robert Millikan single". National Postal Museum.
- ^ Ding, Jaimie; Elqutami, Yasmin; Engineer, Anushe (October 6, 2020). "Pomona to rename Millikan Laboratory, citing Robert A. Millikan's eugenics promotion". The Student Life. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
- ^ Hiltzik, Michael (January 15, 2021). "Confronting a racist past, Caltech will excise names of eugenics backers from campus". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "Caltech Approves New Names for Campus Assets and Honors". California Institute of Technology. November 8, 2021.
- ^ "Timeline for School Renaming Process". Millikan Middle School. Archived from the original on November 27, 2020.
- ^ Vizcarra, Claudia (February 8, 2022). "Millikan Middle School is renamed Louis D. Amstrong Middle School". Scott M. Schmerelson, LAUSD Board member. Archived from the original on February 16, 2022.
- ^ Guardabascio, Mike (August 6, 2020). "After renewed cry for change, LBUSD reconvenes committee to examine school names". Long Beach Post.
- ^ Rosenfeld, David (July 12, 2020). "Push On To Rename Schools, Including In Long Beach". Grunion.
- ^ "Nominations for Renaming the Robert A. Millikan Medal". AAPT News. American Association of Physics Teachers. May 2021.
- ^ "Lillian McDermott Medal". AAPT News. American Association of Physics Teachers. September 2021.
- ^ Millikan, Robert Andrews, Science and the New Civilization [1st Ed.], Charles Scribner's and Sons, 1930, p. 95
- ^ Millikan, Robert A., “A Scientist Confesses His Faith”-Christian Century
Sources
- 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) Robert Andrews Millikan at www.aip.org/history, 2003
- Works by Robert Millikan at Project Gutenberg
External links
- Robert Andrews Millikan on Nobelprize.org including the Nobel Lecture, May 23, 1924 The Electron and the Light-Quant from the Experimental Point of View
- "Famous Iowans," by Tom Longdon
- Illustrated Millikan biography at the Wayback Machine (archived May 16, 2006). Retrieved on March 30, 2007.
- Robert Millikan: Scientist Archived October 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Part of a series on Notable American Unitarians.
- Key Participants: Robert Millikan – Linus Pauling and the Nature of the Chemical Bond: A Documentary History
- Robert Andrews Millikan — Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences
- Works by or about Robert Andrews Millikan at Internet Archive
- Works by Robert Andrews Millikan at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Robert Andrews Millikan at Find a Grave
- Robert Millikan standing on right during historic gathering of the Guggenheim Board Fund for Aeronautics 1928. Orville Wright seated second from right, Charles Lindbergh standing third from right
Archival collections
- Robert Millikan papers [microform], 1821-1953 (bulk 1921-1953), Niels Bohr Library & Archives
- William Polk Jesse student notebooks, 1919-1921, Niels Bohr Library & Archives (contains notes on the lectures of Robert A. Millikan, including courses taught by Millkan: Electron Theory, Quantum Theory, and Kinetic Theory)