MILLKIAN, Robert Andrews

MILLIKAN, ANDREWS, BLANCHARD

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 11/11/2014 at 01:24:39

The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
Saturday, July 20, 1940, Page 16

THEY STARTED HERE
No. 18 in a Mason City Series of Success Stories

ROBERT ANDREWS MILLIKAN, Famous Scientist

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One of the greatest minds that science has produced - one that takes rank with those of Galileo, Newton, Faraday, Copernicus and Darwin, among others - is that of Robert Andrews Millikan, one time Mason Cityan whose work in the field of physics has won him a Nobel prize and has meant much to the rapid advancement of scientific endeaver.

Few men, if any, in American history, have accomplished as much as has this man, although the recognition [illegible]ing to him for his work is not as much as that given many men who have done less. As with most men of science, Physicist Millikan believes in letting his work speak for itself. Then too, physics at the plane on which the former local youth works, is far too deep to be understood by the average person. Only a highly trained mind can grasp it.

Robert Millikan's residence in Mason City, while slight, is real. He was the son of the Rev. Silas F. Millikan, who was pastor of the local Congregational church in the '90's. The now famous scientist's residence was here at that time, although much of the time he was at Oberlin college and came home only at intervals.

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He was born at Morrison, Ill., March 22, 1868, the son of the Rev. Silas Franklin and Mary Jane (Andrews) Millikan. Much of his early life was spent in Iowa, however, for the family moved to Maquoketa, where the Rev. Mr. Millikan has a charge, when the boy was 7 years old.

The youth grew up in the wholesome atmosphere of a small Iowa town and his boyhood was much the same as that of all boys like him. He attended grade and [graduated from Maquoketa] high school and exhibited the intelligence and interest in the mechanics of nature that later was to make him so outstanding.

Following his graduation from high school, the youth entered Oberlin college and devoted much of his time to scientific studies. This work was so brilliant that upon his [1891] graduation from the college he was offered an instructor's position at $600 a year [teaching elementary physics]. He accepted it and continued his studies, receiving his master's degree two years later [1893].

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The promising young scientist moved from there to Columbia university where he won a Ph.D [1895] for another two years work [research on the polarizatin of light emited by incandescent surfaces, using for this purpose molten gold and silver at the U.S. Mint.]. Then he went abroad for a summer [1895].

It was while he was on this European bicycle trip that the now famous scientist proved that having a strong body as well as a strong mind pays. He suddenly found himself some several hundred miles from Berlin and needing to be in the German capital within a week. He then proceeded to ride hard each day and made the jaunt to Berlin within the time necessary. The physical strength that he had built up in acrobatics as a boy and young man stood him in good stead.

When the summer was over he stayed in Germany for a time to continue his studies [Universities of Berlin and Gottingen] and then returned to this country. Before long he had an opportunity to work under Dr. A. A. Michelson, whose famed light experiments at that time had made him one of the leading scientists of the day. [The Michelson appointment was at the newly established Ryerson Laboratory at the University of Chicago.]

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In the years that followed, Robert Andrews Millikan earned the recognition and respect of scientists everywhere. He wrote considerably - including textbooks for secondary schools - and began to make a name for himself.

But it was the now historic "oil drop" experiment that first brought real fame and the esteem of topnotch scientists.

The oil drop experiment was the one upon which the [1923] Nobel prize award was based, the "impossible" feat of isolating and measuring the ultimate electrical unit, the electron. It was accomplished by balancing a droplet of oil between two brass electric plates. This droplet of oil was but 1-13,000th of an inch in diameter.

By watching the minute oil specimen through a microscope, Dr. Millikan was able to see it move, sometimes in one direction, sometimes in another. By careful study of these movements and through the application of data already known about the electron, he was able to isolate it and measure it.

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When the war came in 1917, the scientist became the soldier and joined the United States army signal corps as a lieutenant colonel. He was made chief of the science and research division of the signal corps. [Dr. Millikan worked on the development of anti-submrine and meteoological devices.]

But perhaps Dr. Millikan is best known today for his work with the cosmic ray which he first proved was not the product of the sun or the Milky Way but rather of the action of heavy elements in interplanetary space.

The presence of cosmic rays had already been detected by scientists when Dr. Millikan began serious work with them. His first major experiment was at Kelly field, Texas, where he sent up instruments in balloons to see if the cosmic ray was insterstellar came from this planet.

The superior strength of the ray in the rarified atmosphere reached by the ballons proved that they came from outer space. Then it was necessary to prove or disprove the idea that the ray might come from the Milky way. This he did by taking his equipment to the South American Andes wehre teh earth would block the rays if they came from the Milky Way. Presence there of the cosmic ray proved Dr. Millikan's theory that it was a product of space.

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To tell the complete story of the famed scientist's life would take a book - a thick one. Indeed, the barest outline of his work in "Who's Who in America" takes up the better part of a full column of fine type. He has been elected to scientific societies and has won scientific honors in most of the leading nations of the world. Many times he has traveled to various countries in his work.

Perhaps the finest thing of all the many fine things that can be said of Robert A. Millikan is a comment on his attitude toward religion. Still a sincere and devout Christian, he gives the lie to the popular conception that all scientists are atheists. Believing that even as the presence of a watch denotes the existence of a watchmaker, so the presence of this universe denotes the presence of the intelligence which formed it. Dr. Milliken says that anyone who studies the intricate mechanism that is this work and its environment must realize the presence of an intelligence which conceived it.

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Now Dr. and Mrs. Millikan live in Pasadena, Cal, where the famed scientist is head of the California Institute of Technology. He has never lost his custom of teaching - handing on to others the knowledge he holds for the good of this generation and many more to come.

And there are few men living today who have done more to the ultimte good of mankind than has Dr. Millikan. The fruits of his labors will in time become practical blessings in the form of scientific wonders as yet undreamed of, for the abstract discovery of today is the basis of the concrete discovery of tomorrow.

NOTE: Dr. Millikan was a doctor of physics and electronics scientist. He wrote several textbooks, such as A College Course in Physics (with S.W. Stratton, 1898); Mechanics, Molecular Phyics and Heat (1902); The Theory of Optics (with C.R. Marin, 1903); A First course in Phyics (H. G. Gale, 1906); Laboratory Course in Phyics for Secondary Schools (with H. G. Gale, 1907); Electric Sound and Light (with J. Mills, 1908); Practical Physica (a revision of the 1906 text First Course, 1920); and The Electron (1917, revisions 1924 and 1935); Science and Life (1924); Evolution in Science and Religion (1927); Science and the New Civilization (1930); Time, Matter, and Values (1932); Electrons, Protons, Photons, Neutrons, Mesotrons and Cosmic Rays (1947)' a revision on the text The Electron; his Autobiography (1950). He also contributed articles to various scientific journals and publications over the years.

He made numerous momentous scientific discoveries in the fields of electrictiy, optics and molecular phyisics. He was the director of the Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physicis at the California Institute of Technology, president of the American Physical Society, vice-president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American representative at the International Congress of Physics.

Dr. Millikan was awarded the Comstock Prize of the National Academy of Sciences, Edison Medal of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and the Hughes Medal of the Royal Society of Great Britain. He was made Commander of the Legion of Honour and received the Chinese Order of Jade.

Dr. Millikan was an enthusiastic tennis player. He also greatly enjoyed golf.

Dr. Millikan married Greta Erwin Blanchard in 1902, and they were the parents of three sons, Clark Blanchard Millikan, Glenn Allen Millikan and Max Franklin Millikan.

Robert Andrews Millikan died on December 19, 1953, San Marino, California. Greta Erwin (Blanchard) Millikan was born in Pennsylvania on July 16, 1876, and died in Los Angeles County, California, on October 10, 1955. They were interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California.

Photograph courtesy of Globe-Gazette

Additional information from nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1923/millikan-bio.html

Transcription and note by Sharon R. Becker, May of 2014

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