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<html> <head> <title>Robert A. 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Millikan<img src="robert-millikan-1.jpg" height=306 width=247 align=right hspace=10 vspace=10 alt="Robert A. Millikan">AKA Robert Andrews MillikanBorn: <a href="/lists/599/000106281/" class=proflink>22-Mar</a>-<a href="/lists/867/000105552/" class=proflink>1868</a> Birthplace: <a href="/geo/206/000096915/" class=proflink>Morrison, IL</a> Died: <a href="/lists/240/000106919/" class=proflink>19-Dec</a>-<a href="/lists/463/000106145/" class=proflink>1953</a> Location of death: <a href="/geo/219/000079979/" class=proflink>San Marino, CA</a> Cause of death: Heart Failure Remains: Buried, <a href="/cemetery/649/000208025/" class="proflink">Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, CA</a> Gender: Male Religion: <a href="/lists/279/000069072/" class=proflink>Unitarian</a> Race or Ethnicity: White Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: <a href="/lists/629/000096341/" class=proflink>Physicist</a>Nationality: United States Executive summary: Determined the charge of an electronAmerican physicist Robert A. Millikan studied in Europe under <a href="/people/244/000099944/">Walther Nernst</a> and <a href="/people/229/000058055/">Max Planck</a>, and first came to prominence with his elegant oil-drop experiments of 1909, in which he measured the electric charges on tiny falling water (and later oil) droplets. His study established that any particular droplet's electrical charge is a multiple of a definite, fundamental value — the electron's charge. Beginning in 1912, he spent several years investigating and finally proving <a href="/people/302/000022236/">Albert Einstein</a>'s proposed linear relationship between energy and frequency, and providing the first direct photoelectric support for Planck抯 constant. In 1923 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. During World War I he served on the National Research Council (NRC), conducting emergency research into submarine detection. He was also a leading proponent of NRC fellowships, which have since provided grants to especially promising PhD graduates in scientific fields. In 1921 he relocated from the University of Chicago to the California Institute of Technology, where he served as professor and President and spent the remainder of his career studying cosmic rays (a term coined by Millikan).Father: Silas Franklin Millikan (Congregationalist minister, b. 8-Sep-1834, d. 13-Apr-1915) Mother: Mary Jane Andrews Millikan (Dean of Women at Olviet College, b. 3-May-1834, m. 1864, d. 20-Mar-1917) Sister: Marjorie Avis Millikan Johnson (teacher, b. 2-May-1874, d. 5-Jul-1957) Brother: Allan Fairchild Millikan (sales manager, b. 6-May-1866, d. 12-Oct-1942) Brother: Max Franklin Millikan (attorney, b. 10-Mar-1870, d. 22-Nov-1940) Sister: Mary Grace Millikan Behr (b. 26-Dec-1871, d. 22-Dec-1943) Sister: Mabel Aurelia Millikan Brown (b. 20-Nov-1877, d. 1938) Wife: Greta Ervin Blanchard (b. 16-Jul-1878, m. 10-Apr-1902, d. 10-Oct-1953, three sons) Son: Clark Blanchard Millikan (aeronautical engineer, b. 23-Aug-1903, d. 1966) Son: Glenn Allen Millikan (physiologist, b. 1906, d. May-1947) Son: Max Franklin Millikan (CIA official, b. 12-Dec-1913, d. 14-Dec-1969)     High School: Maquoketa Community High School, Maquoketa, IA (1886)     University: <a href="/edu/552/000079315/">BA Classics, Oberlin College (1891)</a>     Teacher: <a href="/edu/552/000079315/">Physics, Oberlin College (1891-93)</a>     University: <a href="/edu/552/000079315/">MS Physics, Oberlin College (1893)</a>     University: <a href="/edu/477/000068273/">PhD Physics, Columbia University (1895)</a>     Scholar: <a href="/edu/634/000071421/">Physics, University of Göttingen</a>     Scholar: <a href="/edu/634/000079397/">Physics, University of Berlin</a>     Lecturer: <a href="/edu/520/000068316/">Physics, University of Chicago (1896-1910)</a>     Professor: <a href="/edu/520/000068316/">Physics, University of Chicago (1910-21)</a>     Administrator: <a href="/edu/520/000068316/">Director, Ryerson Physical Laboratory, University of Chicago (1910-21)</a>     Professor: <a href="/edu/584/000082338/">Physics, California Institute of Technology (1921-45)</a>     Administrator: <a href="/edu/584/000082338/">Director, Norman Bridge Laboratory, California Institute of Technology (1921-45)</a>     Administrator: <a href="/edu/584/000082338/">President, California Institute of Technology (1921-45)</a>     <a href="/org/766/000051613/">American Association for the Advancement of Science</a>     NAS Comstock Prize in Physics 1913     <a href="/org/692/000054530/">National Academy of Sciences</a> 1914     <a href="/org/821/000055656/">National Research Council</a> Vice Chairman, 1915-18     <a href="/org/496/000071283/">American Physical Society</a> President, 1916-18     <a href="/org/080/000113738/">League of Nations</a> Committee on Intellectual Cooperation     Human Betterment Foundation     <a href="/honors/957/000109630/">IEEE Edison Medal</a> 1922     <a href="/honors/201/000067997/">Nobel Prize for Physics</a> 1923     <a href="/honors/275/000099975/">Hughes Medal</a> 1923     <a href="/honors/815/000099518/">Matteucci Medal</a> 1925     <a href="/honors/012/000168505/">ASME Medal</a> 1926     <a href="/honors/722/000173203/">Oersted Medal</a> 1940     <a href="/honors/139/000048992/">French Legion of Honor</a> Commander     <a href="/org/456/000041333/">Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society</a>     <a href="/event/170/000087906/">Heart Attack</a> 19-Dec-1953 (fatal)     <a href="/lists/936/000043807/">Irish Ancestry</a>     <a href="/lists/223/000044091/">Scottish Ancestry</a> Author of books: College Course of Laboratory Experiments in General Physics (<tt>1898</tt>, textbook, with Samuel W. Stratton) Mechanics, Molecular Physics, and Heat (<tt>1902</tt>, non-fiction) A First Course in Physics (<tt>1906</tt>, textbook, with Henry G. Gale) A Laboratory Course in Physics for Secondary Schools (<tt>1907</tt>, textbook, with Henry G. Gale) Electricity, Sound, and Light (<tt>1908</tt>, non-fiction, with John Mills) The Electron (<tt>1917</tt>, non-fiction) Science and Life (<tt>1924</tt>, non-fiction) Evolution in Science and Religion (<tt>1927</tt>, non-fiction) Science and the New Civilization (<tt>1930</tt>, non-fiction) Time, Matter, and Values (<tt>1932</tt>, non-fiction) The Autobiography of Robert A. Millikan (<tt>1950</tt>, memoir) Appears on postage stamps: USA, Scott #1866 (37 cents, issued 26-Jan-1982) <table> <tr> <td align=right valign=middle style="padding-right: 5px;">New! <a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/" class="fotmlink" style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; color: #dd0000;">NNDB MAPPER</a></td> <td valign=middle align=right style="border-left: 1px solid #bbb; padding-left: 5px;">Create a map starting with</td> <td valign=middle align=right><a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/start/?id=91498"><img src="/man.gif" border=0 style="padding: 2px;"></a></td> <td align=left valign=middle> <a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/start/?id=91498">Robert A. Millikan</a></td> </tr> </table> Requires Flash 7+ and Javascript. 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