Robert Andrews Milliken, whose brief biography will be presented to your attention in the article, was born on March 22, 1868, in the city of Morrison, which is located in Illinois. His father, Silas Franklin Milliken, was a clergyman in the Congregational Church, his mother, Mary Jane Milliken, worked for a long time as dean of Olivet College, which is located in Michigan. Also, in addition to Robert, the family had two more boys and three girls.
Childhood and adolescence
Which country was Robert Milliken a citizen of? Until the age of seven, the future Nobel Prize winner lived in his native Morrison, but his parents decided to move, the choice fell on the city of Macuoket (Iowa). It was a very small town located near the Mississippi River. He remained a US citizen. There, Robert graduated from high school, after which he immediately decided to go to college. He chose Oberlin, located in Ohio. Most likely, this college was advised by her mother, because she once graduated from it herself.
During his studies, Robert studied many different sciences, but was most interested in mathematics and the ancient Greek language. There he took a small course in physics, which lasted only twelve weeks. After that, he said that this course did not give him anything, and it was a waste of time. Very soon, Millikan was made an offer to conduct physics courses himself at the preparatory school, which was located at the college. Robert agreed, because he was paid for this job, and he spent two years in this position.
In 1891 he received a bachelor's degree, and already in 1893 he became a master. The college management decided to support the young but promising guy, and sent documents to Columbia University, attaching notes of his classes to them. After that, Robert Andrews Millikan was not only accepted, but also received a scholarship.
Step into a greater life
Upon arrival at Columbia University, Robert began working with his new mentor, inventor physicist Michael Pupin. But Milliken was not limited to one university, and therefore he decided to spend the summer at the University of Chicago, working with the famous physicist Albert Michelson. These events, apparently, greatly influenced Robert and his views, it was at this time that he decided for himself to connect his life with physics, research and experiments.
Already in 1895, he managed to defend his thesis onpolarization of light and received his Ph. D. A year later, Milliken went on a trip to Europe. He visited Berlin, Paris and many other cities. He was also able to meet many famous scientists and researchers, such as Henri Becquerel. This experience greatly influenced the young scientist and further confirmed his desire to continue to engage in physics and other scientific activities.
Return Home
In 1896, Robert Andrews Milliken returned to his homeland, to the United States of America. After a short rest, the scientist decided to work at the University of Chicago with Michelson, becoming his assistant. For the next twelve years, he diluted his scientific activity with writing textbooks on physics. And this was a very important step, because before the publication of Millikan's textbooks, all books were simple translations of other textbooks from German and French. And now it was written from scratch, by an American scientist for American students. They spread throughout the country and remained standard textbooks for over fifty years! This step was really important for the scientist himself and for the entire educational system of the country.
In 1907, Robert became an assistant professor, and already in 1910 he managed to become a full professor in physics.
Robert Milliken: discoveries and experiments
In 1908, Robert decided to stop his work on textbooks, apparently, the thirst for discovery and the desire to get answers to all questions took over him. He began to pay more andmore than their time for original research. To be more precise, Millikan, like thousands of other physicists of those times, was very interested in the electron, which was discovered quite recently. More specifically, he was interested in the magnitude of the charge, because no one could measure it accurately. Attempts to do this were made by one English scientist - Wilson. However, his work was not successful, since all the results were only an approximate number, and not an exact number.
Robert Andrews Milliken tried to calculate how the electron field affects the cloud of ethers, but not specifically on the drop. Over time, many scientists came to the conclusion that different electrons have completely different charges. Then Millikan came up with the idea to conduct his own experiment and find out whether different electrons really have different charges or not. At that moment, Robert created the charged drop method. It was the perfect example of a beautiful experiment, and one of his great achievements, for which he won the Nobel Prize.
At first, Robert Milliken, whose photo you can see in the article, decided that it was necessary to improve the experimental setup that Wilson used. First, another battery was built, which, in turn, was a more powerful prototype and created an electric field much stronger than before. Secondly, it turned out to isolate several charged drops of water that were between metal plates. When the field was activated, the drop began to slowly move up, when the field was turned off, the drop began to slowly fall down,succumbing to gravity. Activating and deactivating the field, Robert studied each drop for forty-five seconds, after which it evaporated.
Already in 1909, the scientist was able to understand that the charge of a drop always remains an integer and a multiple of its fundamental value. This result turned out to be very convincing evidence that the electron is a fundamental particle with the same mass and the same charge. Of course, during the experiment, the scientist faced a lot of problems, but the patient and thoughtful solution to each of them bore fruit. For example, over time, Millikan came to the conclusion that it was better to replace water with oil, thus increasing the observation time from forty-five seconds to four and a half hours. This made it possible to better understand the processes, as well as eliminate errors and inaccuracies in measurements.
Already in 1913, Robert was able to show the world his conclusion on this issue. The result of his research has been in demand for seventy years, and only recently, with the help of the most modern equipment and technology, scientists were able to make small adjustments.
Other physics research
Even while Milliken was working on textbooks, he was doing some experiments along the way, such as research into the photoelectric effect. The essence of the experiment was that this effect made it possible to push electrons out of the metal with the help of light. Back in 1905, the famous scientist Albert Einstein tried to understand thisquestion, resorting to his hypothesis that light is created from particles, which he called photons. True, his hypothesis was just a generalization of the ideas of another scientist, Max Planck. But at the time, Einstein's hypothesis was controversial and the scientific community did not believe it.
Brief biography of Robert Milliken contains information that in 1912 he decided to independently test the ideas of Albert Einstein. For this, a lot of effort and money was expended. For example, a new experimental setup was created, the purpose of which was to eliminate factors that affect accurate results and remove errors. At the end of the experiment, Robert Millikan was extremely surprised by the result, because the ratio that Einstein put forward turned out to be correct. And further more, with the help of these results, it became possible to determine the value of Planck's constant much more accurately. The data that the scientist collected saw the world already in 1914, which greatly influenced the way of thinking of other physicists.
Nobel Prize
As evidenced by the biography of Robert Milliken, in 1923 he received the Nobel Prize. During the lecture at the award ceremony, he said that science walks on two legs, that is, theory and experiment. This statement was very correct, because Millikan said these words, based on his own scientific experience. But the discoveries described above are far from all that Robert did in his life. During his time in Chicago, the scientist was able to conduct many experiments and research.
Activities after receiving the Nobel Prize
Among his important works are also studies of the electromagnetic spectrum, work on Brownian motion. The results of his work brought him worldwide recognition in the scientific community, and his authority became very significant. A little later, the results of his work attracted industrialists. For example, he was called to advise the Western Electric Company. They were interested in the scientist's opinion regarding vacuum devices. Also until 1926, Millikan worked as an examiner in the patent office. After a while, the famous astronomer George Hale invited Robert to work in Washington, where the latter received the position of head of scientific research of the National Council. It was a serious organization created under the direction of the National Academy of Sciences.
The scientist also had to serve in the army during the First World War, as he was a US citizen and was drafted. Millikan was sent to the signal troops, his duty was to establish contact and coordinate the actions of scientists and engineers. He mainly worked in the field of submarine communications. For the army, this was simply a critical issue, because submarines at the beginning of the 20th century were a very serious threat to the enemy army.
The life of a scientist after the war
After the war ended, Robert returned to his hometown of the University of Chicago, but not for long. The leadership of the California Institute of Technology made a serious offer to the scientist. More specifically, Robert Milliken headed the electronic laboratory in physics. The budget for those times was huge, and it amounted to more than 90,000 dollars a year. While working at the institute, he eventually became its president. His goal was to make C altech the most powerful and advanced institution in the world. The best professors from all over the country were attracted to work in the electronic laboratory in physics of Robert Milliken and the most talented students were brought up. The scientist stayed at the California Institute of Technology until the end of his days. He has worked in the scientific field all his life.
Robert's family life
Married Robert in 1902 to Greta Blanchard. She was a graduate of the University of Chicago, where, like Millikan, she studied the language of Ancient Greece. They had three boys. All of them followed in the footsteps of their father and also engaged in scientific activities.
The last days of the great scientist
Robert Andrews Milliken died on December 19, 1953, in San Marino, California, United States of America.
Legacy
Robert Milliken was one of the most prominent scientists of his time. His textbooks have served schoolchildren and students for more than 50 years! The discoveries made by Robert are relevant even today.
Robert Milliken: interesting facts
- The International Astronomical Union named a crater on the moon after Millikan.
- All three sons of the scientist have achieved success in science.
- Robert wasa very religious person and never denied God.
- He was a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
- 25 universities have named him an honorary doctorate.
- Robert was a member of 21 academies.
