View source for Robert Millikan

{{Short description|American experimental physicist (1868–1953)}}
{{Hatnote|Not to be confused with the Nobel laureate in Chemistry [[Robert S. Mulliken]]}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Robert Millikan
| image               = Millikan.jpg
| caption             = Millikan in 1923
| order               = 1st
| title               = Chairman of the Executive Council, <br/> [[California Institute of Technology]]
| term_start          = 1921
| term_end            = 1945
| predecessor         = ''Office established''
| successor           = [[Lee DuBridge]]
| birth_name          = Robert Andrews Millikan
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1868|03|22}}
| birth_place         = [[Morrison, Illinois]], US
| death_date          = {{No wrap|{{Death date and age|1953|12|19|1868|03|22}}}}
| death_place         = [[San Marino, California]], US
| resting_place       = [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)|Forest Lawn Memorial Park]], [[Glendale, California]]
| module              = {{Infobox person|embed=yes
| education         = [[Maquoketa Community High School]]
| alma_mater        = {{Plain list|
* [[Oberlin College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[Master of Arts|MA]])
* [[Columbia University]] ([[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])}}
| known_for         = {{Plain list|
* [[Oil drop experiment]]
* [[Photoelectric effect]]}}
| spouse            = {{Marriage|Greta Blanchard|1902|1953|end=died}}
| children          = {{Flat list|
* [[Clark Blanchard Millikan|Clark]]
* [[Glenn Allan Millikan|Glenn]]
* [[Max Millikan|Max]]}}
| awards            = {{Plain list|
* [[Comstock Prize in Physics]] (1913)
* [[AIEE Edison Medal]] (1922)
* [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (1923)
* [[Hughes Medal]] (1923)
* [[Matteucci Medal]] (1925)
* [[ASME Medal]] (1926)
* [[Franklin Medal]] (1937)
* [[Oersted Medal]] (1940)}}
| module={{Infobox scientist|embed=yes
| fields            = [[Particle physics]]
| work_institutions = {{Plain list|
* [[University of Chicago]] <br/> (1896–1921)
* [[California Institute of Technology]] (1921–1945)}}
| thesis_title      = On the Polarization of Light Emitted from the Surfaces of Incandescent Solids and Liquids
| thesis_url        = https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/1883118
| thesis_year       = 1895
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Ogden Rood]]<ref name=PhysicsTree>{{Cite web|title=Robert A. Millikan - Physics Tree|url=https://academictree.org/physics/peopleinfo.php?pid=22787|website=academictree.org|access-date=July 14, 2025}}</ref>
| doctoral_students = {{Collapsible list|title={{Nobold|''See list''}}<ref name=PhysicsTree/>
 | [[Harvey Fletcher]] (1911)
 | [[Arthur J. Dempster]] (1916)
 | [[Leonard B. Loeb]] (1916)
 | [[Karl Darrow]] (1917)
 | [[Mervin Kelly]] (1918)
 | [[Ralph Sawyer]] (1919)
 | [[Vern Knudsen]] (1922)
 | [[Melvin Mooney]] (1923)
 | [[Robert Brode]] (1924)
 | [[Ira Sprague Bowen]] (1926)
 | [[Charles Lauritsen]] (1929)
 | [[Carl D. Anderson]] (1930)
 | [[Walter C. Michels]] (1930)
 | [[Robley D. Evans (physicist)|Robley D. Evans]] (1932)
 | [[William Hayward Pickering|William H. Pickering]] (1936)
 | [[Luke Chia-Liu Yuan]] (1940)}}
| signature         = Robert Andrews Milliken signature.svg
}}
}}
}}

'''Robert Andrews Millikan''' (March 22, 1868 – December 19, 1953) was an American [[experimental physicist]] who received the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] in 1923 "for his work on the [[elementary charge]] of electricity and on the [[photoelectric effect]]."<ref name=Nobel1923>{{Cite web|title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1923|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1923/index.html|url-status=live|publisher=[[Nobel Foundation]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081102193126/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1923/index.html|archive-date=2008-11-02|access-date=2008-10-09}}</ref>

As Chairman of the Executive Council of [[Caltech]] (the school's governing body at the time) from 1921 to 1945, Millikan helped to turn the school into one of the leading research institutions in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |title=Archives : Fast Facts About Caltech History |url=http://archives.caltech.edu/about/fastfacts.html |website=archives.caltech.edu}}</ref><ref name=NobelBio>{{Cite web|title=Robert A. Millikan – Biographical|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1923/millikan/biographical/|url-status=live|publisher=[[Nobel Foundation]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308052909/https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1923/millikan/biographical/|archive-date=2022-03-08}}</ref> He also served on the board of trustees for Science Service, now known as [[Society for Science & the Public]], from 1921 to 1953.{{Citation needed|date=July 2025}}

== Biography ==
Robert Andrews Millikan was born on March 22, 1868, in [[Morrison, Illinois]], the second son of The Rev. Silas Franklin Millikan and Mary Jane Andrews. He attended [[Maquoketa Community High School]] before entering [[Oberlin College]] in 1886, where he obtained a [[B.A.]] in 1891 and an [[M.A.]] in 1893.<ref name=NobelBio/> He received his [[Ph.D.]] from [[Columbia University]] in 1895 with a thesis on the [[Polarization (physics)|polarization]] of light emitted from [[incandescent]] surfaces.<ref name="thesis-millikan-1895">{{cite thesis |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/301691116 |title=On The Polarization Of Light Emitted From The Surfaces Of Incandescent Solids And Liquids |date=1895 |publisher=[[Columbia University]] |type=Ph.D. |last=Millikan |first=Robert Andrews|id={{ProQuest|301691116}}|url-access=subscription |oclc=10542040}}</ref>

<blockquote>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.<ref>
{{cite book
 |title=The autobiography of Robert A. Millikan
 |last=Millikan|first=Robert Andrews
 |page=14
 |publisher=Prentice-Hall
 |date=1980 |orig-year=reprint of original 1950 edition
}}</ref></blockquote>

Millikan's enthusiasm for education continued throughout his career, and he was the coauthor of a popular and influential series of introductory textbooks,<ref>The books, coauthored with [[Henry Gale (astrophysicist)|Henry Gordon Gale]], were ''A First Course in Physics'' (1906), ''Practical Physics'' (1920), ''Elements of Physics'' (1927), and ''New Elementary Physics'' (1936).</ref> 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.

In 1895, Millikan travelled to Germany and spent a year at the universities of [[Humboldt University of Berlin|Berlin]] and [[University of Göttingen|Göttingen]]. The following year, he returned to the United States to become an assistant at the [[University of Chicago]]. He was appointed Professor of Physics in 1910.<ref name=NobelBio/>

In 1917, solar astronomer [[George Ellery Hale]] convinced Millikan to begin spending several months each year at 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. In 1920, Throop College was renamed the [[California Institute of Technology]] (Caltech), and the following year Millikan left the University of Chicago to become Chairman of the Executive Council of Caltech, a position he held until his retirement in 1945.

Millikan died on December 19, 1953, in [[San Marino, California]], at the age of 85.<ref>{{cite news |title=Dr. Millikan of Caltech Dies at 85: Famous Physicist Known as Leader in Many Fields |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=December 20, 1953 |page=1 |id={{ProQuest|166559215}} |quote=Dr. Robert Andrews Millikan, the active founder of the California Institute of Technology and dean of the world's physicists, died in a Pasadena convalescent yesterday shortly after noon. He was 85.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Robert A. Millikan, Nobel Prize Physicist |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |date=December 20, 1953 |page=M14 |id={{ProQuest|152605614}} |quote=Dr. Robert A. Millikan, dean of the American physicists and Nobel Prize winning authority, died today at a rest home. He was 85.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Dr. Millikan, Nobel Prize Physicist, Dies: Scientist, 85, Known for Isolating Electron  |newspaper=[[Chicago Daily Tribune]] |date=December 20, 1953 |page=A11 |id={{ProQuest|178583066}} |quote=Dr. Robert Andrews Millikan, 85, world famous physicist and authority on cosmic rays, died in a rest home today. He was confined to his bed for months with infirmities of age.}}</ref> He is interred in the "Court of Honor" at [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)|Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery]] in [[Glendale, California]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Solemn Tribute Paid to Dr. Robert Millikan: Friends and Admirers File Past Bier; Immortalization Services Set Today |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=December 23, 1953 |page=4 |id={{ProQuest|166552921}}}}</ref>

== Research ==
=== Oil drop experiment ===
{{Main|Oil drop experiment}}
[[File:Millikan’s oil-drop apparatus 1.jpg|thumb|left|Millikan's original oil-drop apparatus, circa 1909–1910]]
[[File:Robert A. Millikan 1924.png|thumb|left|Millikan receives a check for over $40,000 for winning the Nobel Prize, 1924]]

In 1909, Millikan worked on an experiment in which he measured the [[Electric charge|charge]] of 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).<ref name="Millikan1910">
{{cite journal
 | author = Millikan, R. A.
 | title = The isolation of an ion, a precision measurement of its charge, and the correction of Stokes's law
 | journal = Science
 | volume = 32
 | number = 822
 | pages = 436–448
 | doi = 10.1126/science.32.822.436
 | year = 1910
 | pmid = 17743310
 | bibcode = 1910Sci....32..436M
 | url = https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:MILpr11b
| url-access = subscription
 }}</ref>

Millikan took sole credit in return for Fletcher claiming full authorship on a related result for his dissertation.<ref>{{cite journal|title=In defense of Robert Andrews Millikan|url=http://www.its.caltech.edu/~dg/MillikanII.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010603113008/http://www.its.caltech.edu/~dg/MillikanII.pdf |archive-date=June 3, 2001 |url-status=live|author=David Goodstein|journal=American Scientist|volume=89|issue=1|date=January 2001|pages=54–60|bibcode=2001AmSci..89...54G|doi=10.1511/2001.1.54|s2cid=209833984 }}</ref> Millikan went on to win the 1923 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]], in part for this work, and Fletcher kept the agreement a secret until his death.<ref>{{cite journal | title = My Work with Millikan on the Oil-drop Experiment | author = Harvey Fletcher | journal = Physics Today |date=June 1982 | pages = 43–47 | doi = 10.1063/1.2915126 | volume=35| issue = 6 |bibcode = 1982PhT....35f..43F }}</ref> After a publication on his first results in 1910,<ref name="Mil-1910">{{cite journal | last1 = Millikan | first1 = R.A. | year = 1910 | title = A new modification of the cloud method of determining the elementary electrical charge and the most probable value of that charge | doi=10.1080/14786440208636795| url =http://authors.library.caltech.edu/9600/ | journal = Phil. Mag. | volume = 19 |series=6 | issue = 110| page = 209 | url-access = subscription }}</ref>  contradictory observations by [[Felix Ehrenhaft]] started a controversy between the two physicists.<ref name="Ehren">{{cite journal | last1 = Ehrenhaft | first1 = F | year = 1910 | title = Über die Kleinsten Messbaren Elektrizitätsmengen | journal = Phys. Z. | volume = 10 | page = 308 }}</ref> After improving his setup, Millikan published his seminal study in 1913.<ref name="Mil-1913">{{cite journal | last1 = Millikan | first1 = R.A. | year = 1913 | title = On the Elementary Electric charge and the Avogadro Constant | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=sp8RAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA109 | journal = Physical Review |series =II | volume = 2 | issue = 2| pages = 109–143 | doi=10.1103/physrev.2.109|bibcode = 1913PhRv....2..109M | doi-access = free }}</ref>

The [[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<sup>−19</sup> [[coulomb]]), which is the charge of a single electron. That this is somewhat lower than the [[elementary charge|modern value]] of 1.602 176 53(14) x 10<sup>−19</sup> [[coulomb]] is probably due to Millikan's use of an inaccurate value for the [[viscosity]] of [[Earth's atmosphere|air]].<ref>[http://www.lhup.edu/~DSIMANEK/cargocul.htm Feynman, Richard, "Cargo Cult Science"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110223130149/http://www.lhup.edu/~DSIMANEK/cargocul.htm |date=February 23, 2011 }} (adapted from 1974 [https://www.caltech.edu/ California Institute of Technology] commencement address), ''[http://www.lhup.edu/~DSIMANEK/home.htm Donald Simanek's Pages] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110902014109/http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/home.htm |date=September 2, 2011 }}'', [http://www.lhup.edu/ Lock Haven University], rev. August 2008.</ref><ref name="FeynmanLeighton1997">{{cite book|last1=Feynman|first1=Richard Phillips|last2=Leighton|first2=Ralph|last3=Hutchings|first3=Edward|title="Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman!": adventures of a curious character|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7papZR4oVssC&pg=PA342|access-date=July 10, 2010|year=1997|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|location=New York|isbn=978-0-393-31604-9|page=342}}</ref>

Although at the time of Millikan's oil drop experiment, it was becoming clear that there exist such things as [[subatomic particle]]s, not everyone was convinced. Experimenting with [[cathode ray]]s in 1897, J. J. Thomson had discovered negatively charged "corpuscles", as he called them, with a charge-to-mass ratio 1840 times that of a [[hydrogen ion]]. Similar results had been found by [[George Francis FitzGerald|George FitzGerald]] and [[Walter Kaufmann (physicist)|Walter Kaufmann]]. Most of what was then known about electricity and magnetism could be explained on the basis that charge is a continuous variable. This 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 [[photon]]s.

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 [[Charles Steinmetz]], who had previously thought that charge is a continuous variable, became convinced otherwise after working with Millikan's apparatus.

==== 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 [[Allan Franklin]],<ref>
{{cite journal
 |last=Franklin |first=A.
 |title=Millikan's Oil-Drop Experiments
 |journal=[[The Chemical Educator]]
 |volume=2 |issue=1 |date=1997 |pages=1–14
 |doi=10.1007/s00897970102a
 |s2cid=97609199
}}</ref> a former high-energy experimentalist and current philosopher of science at the [[University of Colorado at Boulder|University of Colorado]].  Franklin contends that Millikan's exclusions of data do not affect the final value of the charge obtained, but that Millikan's substantial "cosmetic surgery" reduced the statistical error.  This enabled Millikan to give the charge of the electron to better than one-half of one percent. In fact, if Millikan had included all of the data he discarded, the error would have been less than 2%.  While this would still have resulted in Millikan's having measured the charge of ''e<sup>−</sup>'' 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. [[David Goodstein]] argues that Millikan's statement, that all drops observed over a 60 day period were used in the paper, was clarified in a subsequent sentence that specified all "drops upon which complete series of observations were made". Goodstein attests that this is indeed the case and notes that five pages of tables separate the two sentences.<ref>
{{cite web
 |url         = http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/4014/1/Millikan.pdf
 |title       = In defense of Robert Andrews Millikan
 |first       = David
 |last        = Goodstein
 |date        = 2000
 |work        = Engineering and Science
 |publisher   = California Institute of Technology
 |location    = Pasadena, California
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20100625194742/http://eands.caltech.edu/articles/Millikan%20Feature.pdf
 |archive-date = June 25, 2010
|access-date  = August 30, 2018
|url-status     = dead
}}</ref>

=== Photoelectric effect ===
[[File:Millikan and Einstein 1932.png|thumb|upright|Millikan and Albert Einstein at the California Institute of Technology, 1932]]
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,<ref name="Ref_Millikan">
{{cite journal
 |last1=Millikan |first1=R.
 |year=1914
 |title=A Direct Determination of "''h''."
 |journal=Physical Review
 |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=73–75
 |bibcode=1914PhRv....4R..73M
 |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.4.73.2
 |url=https://authors.library.caltech.edu/42736/
}}</ref> 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.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=GfmR0mHxeZkC&pg=PA96 Anton Z. Capri, "Quips, quotes, and quanta: an anecdotal history of physics"] (World Scientific 2007) p.96</ref>

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 [[Luminiferous aether|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 the [[Planck constant]] by using photoelectric emission graphs of various metals.<ref>
{{cite journal
 |last1=Millikan
 |first1=R.
 |year=1916
 |title=A Direct Photoelectric Determination of Planck's "''h''"
 |journal=[[Physical Review]]
 |volume=7
 |issue=3
 |pages=355–388
 |bibcode=1916PhRv....7..355M
 |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.7.355
 |doi-access=free
}}</ref>

=== Cosmic rays ===
At Caltech, most of Millikan's scientific research focused on the study of [[cosmic rays]] (a term 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 particle]]s (Compton's view).  Millikan thought his cosmic ray photons were the "birth cries" of new atoms continually being created to counteract [[entropy]] and prevent the [[heat death of the universe]]. Compton was eventually proven right by the observation that cosmic rays are deflected by the [[Earth's magnetic field]] (hence must be charged particles).

== Other work ==
Millikan was Vice Chairman of the [[United States National Research Council|National Research Council]] during [[World War I]]. During that time, he helped to develop [[anti-submarine]] and meteorological devices. During his wartime service, an investigation by Inspector General [[William T. Wood]] determined that Millikan had attempted to steal another inventor's design for a [[centrifugal gun]] in order to profit personally.<ref name="Clark">{{cite book |last1=Clark |first1=Paul W. |last2=Lyons |first2=Laurence A. |date=2014 |title=George Owen Squier: U.S. Army Major General, Inventor, Aviation Pioneer, Founder of Muzak |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sGOWAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA177 |location=Jefferson, NC |publisher=McFarland & Co. |page=177 |isbn=978-0-7864-7635-0 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Wood recommended termination of Millikan's army commission, but a subsequent investigation by [[Frank McIntyre (military officer)|Frank McIntyre]], the executive assistant to the army chief of staff, exonerated Millikan.<ref name="Clark"/> He received the Chinese [[Order of Jade]] in 1940.<ref name="Caltech-OJ">{{Citation| title=Order of Jade (China)| date=1940| orig-date=Awarded 1940| id=1999-00253| url=https://collections.archives.caltech.edu/repositories/2/accessions/5571| access-date=October 27, 2024}}</ref> After the War, Millikan contributed to the works of the [[League of Nations]]' [[International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation|Committee on Intellectual Cooperation]] (from 1922, in replacement to [[George Ellery Hale|George E. Hale]], to 1931), with other prominent researchers ([[Marie Curie]], [[Albert Einstein]], [[Hendrik Lorentz]], etc.).<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Grandjean |first=Martin |date=2018 |title=Les réseaux de la coopération intellectuelle. La Société des Nations comme actrice des échanges scientifiques et culturels dans l'entre-deux-guerres |trans-title=The Networks of Intellectual Cooperation. The League of Nations as an Actor of the Scientific and Cultural Exchanges in the Inter-War Period |url=https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01853903 |language=fr |institution=[[Université de Lausanne]] |degree=PhD}}</ref> 

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.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Millikan |first1=Robert A. |last2=Martel |first2=R. R. |last3=Austin |first3=John C. |last4=Hunt |first4=Sumner |last5=Witmer |first5=David J. |last6=Hill |first6=Raymond A. |last7=Labarre |first7=R. V. |last8=Bowen |first8=Oliver G. |last9=Noice |first9=Blaine |date=June 7, 1933 |title=Long Beach Earthquake and Protection Against Future Earthquakes – Summary of Report by Joint Technical Committee on Earthquake Protection, Dr. Robert A. Millikan, Chairman |url=https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:MILlberpt33 |access-date=February 21, 2023 |website=resolver.caltech.edu |language=en}}</ref>  

== Westinghouse time capsule ==
In 1938, he wrote a short passage to be placed in the [[Westinghouse Time Capsules]]:<ref>[https://archive.org/details/timecapsulecups00westrich ''The Time Capsule'']. Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company. September 23, 1938. p.&nbsp;46.</ref>

<blockquote>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.</blockquote>

== Personal life ==
[[File:Greta Ervin Millikan 1923.png|alt=Black-and-white headshot of a woman wearing a hat draped with lace|thumb|upright|Greta Millikan in 1923]]

In 1902, Millikan married Greta Irvin Blanchard (1876–1953), who pre-deceased him by 3 months. They had three sons: [[Clark Blanchard Millikan|Clark]], [[Glenn Allan Millikan|Glenn]], and [[Max Millikan|Max]].<ref name=NobelBio/><ref>{{cite news |title=Mrs. Millikan, 77, Dies in San Marino |date=October 11, 1953 |page=B1 |id={{ProQuest|166493759}} |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Dr. Millikan, ill, Misses Funeral Rites for Wife |date=October 13, 1953 |page=A3 |id={{ProQuest|166545193}} |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref>

Millikan was a member of the organizing committee of the [[1932 Los Angeles Olympics]],<ref name="Olympics">{{cite book |title=The Games of the Xth Olympiad, Los Angeles 1932 Official Report |publisher=Xth Olympiade Committee of the Games of Los Angeles, U.S.A. 1932, Ltd. |year=1933 |location=Los Angeles |pages=28, 42 |url=https://digital.la84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll8/id/7200/rec/13 |access-date=July 1, 2021 |via=LA84 Foundation Digital Library}}</ref> and in his private life was an enthusiastic [[tennis]] player.

A religious man and the son of a minister, in his later life, Millikan argued strongly for a complementary relationship between [[Relationship between religion and science|Christian faith and science]].<ref name="Millikan 1929">{{cite book |chapter="Millikan, Robert Andrew" |title=[[Who's Who in America]] 1928–1929 |volume=15 |page=1486 |oclc=867280944}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060302191706/http://www.adherents.com/people/pm/Robert_Millikan.html |archive-date=March 2, 2006 |url-status=usurped |url=http://www.adherents.com/people/pm/Robert_Millikan.html |title=The Religious Affiliation of Physicist Robert Andrews Millikan |work=Adherents.com |date=September 26, 2005 |first=Preston |last=Hunter}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1923/millikan-bio.html |title=Robert A. Millikan Biographical |work=[[The Nobel Foundation]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222161402/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,715687,00.html |archive-date=December 22, 2008 |url-status=dead |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,715687,00.html |title=Medicine: Science Serves God |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=June 4, 1923 |access-date=January 19, 2013}}</ref> He dealt with this in his [[Terry Lectures]] at [[Yale]] in 1926–27, published as ''Evolution in Science and Religion''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Evolution in Science and Religion |orig-year=1927 |year=1973 |publisher=Kennikat Press |isbn=0-8046-1702-3 |first=Robert Andrews |last=Millikan |oclc=1249703293}}</ref> He was a Christian [[theism|theist]] and proponent of [[theistic evolution]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Long |first=Edward Le Roy |year=1952 |title=Religious Beliefs of American Scientists |publisher=Westminster Press |pages=45–48 |oclc=26347551}}</ref>

A more controversial belief of his was [[eugenics]] – he was one of the initial trustees of the [[Human Betterment Foundation]] and praised [[San Marino, California]] for being "the westernmost outpost of Nordic civilization&nbsp;... [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."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/2000-03/16/076r-031600-idx.html |title=Judgment At Pasadena |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |date=March 16, 2000 |page=C1 |access-date=March 30, 2007 |first=Sharon |last=Waxman}}</ref> In 1936, Millikan advised the president of [[Duke University]] in the then-[[Racial segregation in the United States|racial segregated southern United States]] against recruiting a female physicist and argued that it would be better to hire young men.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Caltech confronted its racist past. Here's what happened |date=November 10, 2021 |first=Nidhi |last=Subbaraman |doi=10.1038/d41586-021-03052-x |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume= 599 |issue=7884 |pages=194–198|pmid=34759369 |bibcode=2021Natur.599..194S |s2cid=243987001 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

== Recognition ==
=== Awards ===
{| class="wikitable"
! Country
! Year
! Institute
! Award
! Citation
! {{Reference column heading}}
|-
| {{Flag|United States|1912}}
| 1913
| [[National Academy of Sciences]]
| [[Comstock Prize in Physics]]
|
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=Comstock Prize in Physics|url=http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_comstock|url-status=dead|publisher=[[National Academy of Sciences]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101229195326/http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_comstock|archive-date=2010-12-29|access-date=2011-02-13}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flag|United States|1912}}
| 1922
| [[AIEE]]
| [[AIEE Edison Medal]]
| "For his experimental work in electrical science"
| <ref>{{cite web|title=IEEE Edison Medal Recipients|url=https://corporate-awards.ieee.org/wp-content/uploads/edison-rl.pdf|url-status=live|publisher=[[IEEE]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241203160017/https://corporate-awards.ieee.org/wp-content/uploads/edison-rl.pdf|archive-date=2024-12-03|access-date=2024-12-10}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flag|Sweden}}
| 1923
| [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]]
| [[Nobel Prize in Physics]]
| "For his work on the elementary charge of electricity and on the photoelectric effect"
| <ref name=Nobel1923/>
|-
| {{Flag|United Kingdom}}
| 1923
| [[Royal Society]]
| [[Hughes Medal]]
| "For his determination of the electronic charge and of other physical constants"
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=Hughes Medal|url=https://royalsociety.org/medals-and-prizes/hughes-medal/|publisher=[[Royal Society]]|access-date=2025-10-31}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flagdeco|Kingdom of Italy}} [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]]
| 1925
| [[Accademia dei XL]]
| [[Matteucci Medal]]
|
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=Medals|url=https://www.accademiaxl.it/en/activities/medals/|publisher=[[Accademia dei XL]]|access-date=2025-11-04}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flag|United States|1912}}
| 1926
| [[ASME]]
| [[ASME Medal]]
|
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=ASME Medal|url=http://www.asme.org/about-asme/honors-awards/achievement-awards/asme-medal|url-status=live|publisher=[[ASME]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250714185355/https://www.asme.org/about-asme/honors-awards/achievement-awards/asme-medal|archive-date=2025-07-14|access-date=2011-10-01}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flag|United States|1912}}
| 1937
| [[Franklin Institute]]
| [[Franklin Medal]]
| "For the measurement of the charge on an electron and description of Planck's constant, and for the study of cosmic radiation"
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=Robert Andrews Millikan|url=https://fi.edu/en/awards/laureates/robert-andrews-millikan|url-status=live|publisher=[[Franklin Institute]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250402010502/https://fi.edu/en/awards/laureates/robert-andrews-millikan|archive-date=2025-04-02|access-date=2025-11-04}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flag|United States|1912}}
| 1940
| [[American Association of Physics Teachers|AAPT]]
| [[Oersted Medal]]
|
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=Oersted Medal|url=http://www.aapt.org/programs/awards/oersted.cfm|url-status=live|publisher=[[American Association of Physics Teachers|AAPT]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250906101621/https://aapt.org/Programs/awards/oersted.cfm|archive-date=2025-09-06|access-date=2016-02-12}}</ref>
|}

=== Memberships ===
{| class="wikitable"
! Country
! Year
! Institute
! Type
! {{Reference column heading}}
|-
| {{Flag|United States|1912}}
| 1914
| [[American Philosophical Society]]
| Member
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Robert+A.+Millikan&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|url-status=live|publisher=[[American Philosophical Society]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241211112714/https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Robert+A.+Millikan&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|archive-date=2024-12-11|access-date=2023-11-06}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flag|United States|1912}}
| 1914
| [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
| Member
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=Robert Andrews Millikan|url=https://www.amacad.org/person/robert-andrews-millikan|url-status=live|publisher=[[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251001122635/https://www.amacad.org/person/robert-andrews-millikan|archive-date=2025-10-01|access-date=2023-11-06}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flag|United States|1912}}
| 1915
| [[National Academy of Sciences]]
| [[Member of the National Academy of Sciences|Member]]
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=Robert A. Millikan|url=https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/robert-a-millikan-ohiknn/|url-status=live|publisher=[[National Academy of Sciences]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250804070011/https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/robert-a-millikan-ohiknn/|archive-date=2025-08-04|access-date=2025-11-04}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flag|United States|1912}}
| 1950
| [[Optical Society of America]]
| Honorary Member
| <ref>{{Cite web
|title=R.A. Millikan
|url=https://www.optica.org/history/biographies/bios/r-a--millikan/
|url-status=live
|publisher=[[Optical Society of America]]
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241227162037/https://www.optica.org/history/biographies/bios/r-a--millikan/
|archive-date=2024-12-27
|access-date=2024-09-13}}</ref>
|}

=== Civilian decorations ===
{| class="wikitable"
! Country
! Year
! [[President of the United States|President]]
! Decoration
! {{Reference column heading}}
|-
| {{Flag|United States|1912}}
| 1949
| [[Harry Truman]]
| [[Medal for Merit]]
| <ref>{{Cite news|title=Millikan, son, aide get medals of merit|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1949/03/22/archives/millikan-son-aide-get-medals-of-merit.html|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|date=1949-03-22|access-date=2018-08-30}}</ref>
|}

== Legacy ==
[[File:MillikanBuilding2010.jpg|thumb|upright|The former Millikan Library at Caltech in 2010 (renamed Caltech Hall in 2021)]]

On January 26, 1982, Millikan was honored by the [[United States Postal Service]] with a 37¢ [[Great Americans series]] (1980–2000) [[postage stamp]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://postalmuseum.si.edu/object/npm_1999.2004.188 |title=37c Robert Millikan single |work=[[National Postal Museum]]}}</ref>

[[Tektronix]] named a street on their [[Portland, Oregon]], campus after Millikan<ref>{{cite web |url=https://vintagetek.org/millikan/ |title=Millikan |work=vintageTEK Museum}}</ref> with the [[Millikan Way (MAX station)]] of [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]]'s [[MAX Blue Line]] named after the street.{{clarify|date=January 2021|reason=Has Portland started to look into Millikan's ties to the eugenic movement yet as an offshoot of the Black Lives Matter movement?  If so, this statement could be outdated.}}

=== Name removal from college campuses ===
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.<ref name="Pomona TSL">{{cite news |last1=Ding |first1=Jaimie |last2=Elqutami |first2=Yasmin |last3=Engineer |first3=Anushe |title=Pomona to rename Millikan Laboratory, citing Robert A. Millikan's eugenics promotion |url=https://tsl.news/pomona-to-rename-millikan-laboratory-citing-eugenics-promotion/ |access-date=October 7, 2020 |work=[[The Student Life]] |date=October 6, 2020}}</ref>

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, on account of Millikan's affiliation with the [[Human Betterment Foundation]], 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.<ref>{{cite web |last=Rosenbaum |first=Thomas F. |url=https://inclusive.caltech.edu/about/commitments-progress/committee/statement |title=A Statement from the President |work=California Institute of Technology |access-date=January 15, 2021}}</ref> The Robert A. Millikan Library has been renamed Caltech Hall.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-01-15/caltech-millikan-racism |title=Confronting a racist past, Caltech will excise names of eugenics backers from campus |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=January 15, 2021 |first= Michael |last=Hiltzik}}</ref> In November 2021, the Robert A. Millikan Professorship was renamed the Judge [[Shirley Hufstedler]] Professorship.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/caltech-approves-new-names-for-campus-assets-and-honors |title=Caltech Approves New Names for Campus Assets and Honors |date=November 8, 2021 |work=[[California Institute of Technology]]}}</ref>

This removal was opposed by mathematician [[Thomas C. Hales]], who argued that "Millikan's beliefs fell within acceptable scientific norms of his day".<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Hales |first=Thomas |title=Robert Millikan, Japanese Internment, and Eugenics |journal=European Physical Journal H |date=February 19, 2024 |volume=49 |issue=1 |article-number=11 |doi=10.1140/epjh/s13129-024-00068-5 |arxiv=2309.13468|bibcode=2024EPJH...49...11H }}</ref> He further criticized the Committee on Naming and Recognition (CNR) report for "failing to meet the minimal standards of accuracy and scholarship that are expected of official documents issued by one of the world's great scientific institutions", saying that it should be retracted, and called for Caltech to "restore Robert Andrews Millikan to a place of honor."<ref name=":0" />

=== 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, Los Angeles|Sherman Oaks]] started the process of renaming their school.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.millikanmiddleschool.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=1964919&type=d&pREC_ID=2078740 |title=Timeline for School Renaming Process |work=Millikan Middle School |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127034358/https://www.millikanmiddleschool.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=1964919&type=d&pREC_ID=2078740 |archive-date=November 27, 2020 |url-status=dead}}</ref> 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]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://boardmemberscott.org/millikan-middle-school-is-renamed-louis-b-amstrong-middle-school/ |title=Millikan Middle School is renamed Louis D. Amstrong Middle School |date= February 8, 2022 |first=Claudia |last=Vizcarra |publisher=Scott M. Schmerelson, LAUSD Board member |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220216062023/https://boardmemberscott.org/millikan-middle-school-is-renamed-louis-b-amstrong-middle-school/ |archive-date=February 16, 2022}}</ref>

In August 2020, the [[Long Beach Unified School District]] established a committee that would examine the need for renaming of their [[Millikan High School|Robert A. Millikan High School]].<ref name="lbp-2020aug06">{{cite news |url=https://lbpost.com/news/education/school-renaming-jordan-wilson-lbusd-committee |title=After renewed cry for change, LBUSD reconvenes committee to examine school names |newspaper=Long Beach Post |date=August 6, 2020 |first=Mike |last=Guardabascio}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.gazettes.com/news/education/push-on-to-rename-schools-including-in-long-beach/article_7d8894dc-c45a-11ea-afb8-1f1443d05cac.html |title=Push On To Rename Schools, Including In Long Beach |work=Grunion |first=David |last=Rosenfeld |date=July 12, 2020}}</ref> An October 2023 attempt to get the school board to restart the stalled renaming process failed.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://lbpost.com/news/education/lbusd-teacher-calls-rename-schools-racist-figures-wilson/ |title= LBUSD teacher calls for renewed push to rename schools honoring racist figures |first=Tess |last=Kazenoff |date=October 23, 2023 |newspaper=Long Beach Post}}</ref> {{As of|2024|8}}, 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 [[American Association of Physics Teachers]] voted unanimously to remove Millikan's name from the [[Robert A. Millikan award]], which honors "notable and intellectually creative contributions to the teaching of physics."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.aapt.org/Publications/responsive_May2021.cfm#Renaming |title=Nominations for Renaming the Robert A. Millikan Medal |work=AAPT News |publisher=[[American Association of Physics Teachers]] |date=May 2021}}</ref> A few months later, AAPT announced that the award would be renamed in honor of University of Washington professor of physics [[Lillian C. McDermott]] who died the previous year.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.aapt.org/Publications/responsive_September2021.cfm#Lil |title=Lillian McDermott Medal |work=AAPT News |publisher=[[American Association of Physics Teachers]] |date=September 2021}}</ref>

== 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."<ref>{{cite book |last=Millikan |first=Robert Andrews |title=Science and the New Civilization |edition=first |publisher=Charles Scribner's and Sons |year=1930 |page=95 |oclc=1450318415}}</ref>

"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."<ref>{{cite book |last=Millikan Robert |first=A. |title=A Scientist Confesses His Faith |publisher=Christian Century |year=1927 |oclc=17361802}}</ref>

== Selected works ==
[[File:Millikan, Robert Andrews – Laboratory course in physics for secondary schools, 1906 – BEIC 10996113.jpg|thumb|''Laboratory course in physics for secondary schools'', 1906]]
* {{Cite book|author1=Millikan, Robert A.|author2=Gale, Henry G.|title=Laboratory course in physics for secondary schools|volume=|publisher=Ginn|location=Boston|year=1906|language=en|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=10996113}}
* Millikan, Robert Andrews (1917). ''The Electron: Its Isolation and Measurements and the Determination of Some of its Properties''. The University of Chicago Press.
*{{Cite book|author1=Millikan, Robert A.|author2=Gale, Henry G.|title=Practical physics|volume=|publisher=Ginn|location=Boston|year=1922|language=en|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=11018319}}
*{{cite book |last1=Millikan |first1=Robert Andrews |title=Electrons (+and-), Protons, Photons, Neutrons and Cosmic Rays |date=1935 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge}}
* Millikan, Robert Andrews (1950). ''The Autobiography of Robert Millikan'', New York: Prentice-Hall

== 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.
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=ficDAAAAMBAJ&dq=quantum+mechanics&pg=PA22 Millikan's passage] announcing emerging branch of [[physics]] under the designation of [[Quantum mechanics|quantum theory]], published in [[Popular Science|''Popular Science'']] January 1927.

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{Refbegin}}
* Physics paper [https://history.aip.org/history/exhibits/gap/Millikan/Millikan.html#millikan1 "On the Elementary Electrical Charge and the Avogadro Constant (extract)"] Robert Andrews Millikan at ''www.aip.org/history'', 2003
* {{Gutenberg author |id = Robert_Millikan |name = Robert Millikan }}
* Waller, John, "Einstein's Luck: The Truth Behind Some of the Greatest Scientific Discoveries". Oxford University Press, 2003. {{ISBN|0-19-860719-9}}.
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
* Goodstein, D., "''[http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/4014/1/Millikan.pdf  In defense of Robert Andrews Millikan]''", ''Engineering and Science'', 2000. No 4, pp30–38 (pdf).
* Segerstråle, U (1995) Good to the last drop? Millikan stories as "canned" pedagogy, ''Science and Engineering Ethics'' vol 1, pp197–214
* ''[http://physics.nist.gov/cgi-bin/cuu/Value?e|search_for=electron+charge The NIST Reference on Constants, Units, and Uncertainty]''
* {{cite journal | last1 = Kevles | first1 = Daniel A | year = 1979 | title = Robert A. Millikan | journal = Scientific American | volume = 240 | issue = 1| pages = 142–151 | doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0179-142| bibcode = 1979SciAm.240a.142K}}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Kargon | first1 = Robert H | year = 1977 | title = The Conservative Mode: Robert A. Millikan and the Twentieth-Century Revolution in Physics | journal = Isis | volume = 68 | issue = 4| pages = 509–526 | jstor = 230006 | doi = 10.1086/351871 | s2cid = 170329412 }}
* Kargon, Robert H (1982). ''The rise of Robert Millikan: portrait of a life in American science''. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
* Nobel Lectures, "''[https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1923/millikan/biographical/ Robert A. Millikan] – Nobel Biography''". Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam.

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Robert Andrews Millikan}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{Nobelprize}} including the Nobel Lecture, May 23, 1924, "The Electron and the Light-Quant from the Experimental Point of View"
* [https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20080626083137/http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/FAMOUSIOWANS/41217015 "Robert Millikan"], Famous Iowans, by Tom Longdon
* {{Webarchive |url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060516004819/http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/~eugeniik/history/millikan.html |date=May 16, 2006 |title=Illustrated Millikan biography }}. Retrieved on March 30, 2007.
* [http://harvardsquarelibrary.org/unitarians/millikan.html Robert Millikan: Scientist]; {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011192428/http://harvardsquarelibrary.org/unitarians/millikan.html |date=October 11, 2007 }}. Part of a series on Notable American Unitarians.
* [http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/specialcollections/coll/pauling/bond/people/millikan.html Key Participants: Robert Millikan]—''Linus Pauling and the Nature of the Chemical Bond: A Documentary History''
* {{Biographical Memoirs|millikan-robert}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname = Robert Andrews Millikan |birth = 1868 |death = 1953 }}
* {{Librivox author |id = 4564 }}
* {{Find a Grave|2089|Robert Andrews Millikan}}
* [https://wright-brothers.org/History_Wing/Wright_Story/Long_Twilight/Long_Twilight_Intro_images/Guggenheim_Fund_Board.JPG  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 ===
* [https://libserv.aip.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=168116Y30L533.282104&profile=rev-icos&source=~!horizon&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100006~!4044~!11&ri=3&aspect=power&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=Robert+Andrews+Millikan&index=.AW&uindex=&aspect=power&menu=search&ri=3&limitbox_1=LO01+=+icos <nowiki>Robert Millikan papers [microform], 1821–1953 (bulk 1921–1953), Niels Bohr Library & Archives</nowiki>]
* [https://libserv.aip.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=168A4841MD511.411803&limitbox_1=LO01+%3D+icos&menu=search&aspect=power&npp=10&ipp=20&spp=20&profile=rev-icos&ri=13&source=%7E%21horizon&index=.GW&term=WILLIAM+P.+JESSE+STUDENT+NOTEBOOKS%2C+1919-1921&x=16&y=13&aspect=power 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)

{{S-start}}
{{S-aca}}
{{S-bef |before = [[James Scherer]] |as = President of the Throop College of Technology }}
{{S-ttl |order = 1st |title = President of the [[California Institute of Technology]] |years = 1921–1946 }}
{{S-aft |after = [[Lee DuBridge]] }}
{{S-end}}
{{ASME Medal |state = collapsed }}
{{IEEE Edison Medal Laureates 1909-1925}}
{{Nobel Prize in Physics Laureates 1901-1925}}
{{1923 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Presidents of the American Physical Society}}
{{Presidents of the American Association for the Advancement of Science}}
{{Caltech presidents}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Millikan, Robert}}
[[Category:1868 births]]
[[Category:1953 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American physicists]]
[[Category:American Congregationalists]]
[[Category:American experimental physicists]]
[[Category:American Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:American optical physicists]]
[[Category:American spectroscopists]]
[[Category:ASME Medal recipients]]
[[Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)]]
[[Category:California Institute of Technology faculty]]
[[Category:Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni]]
[[Category:Corresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1917–1925)]]
[[Category:Corresponding Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Human Betterment Foundation members]]
[[Category:IEEE Edison Medal recipients]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Naval Consulting Board]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physics]]
[[Category:Oberlin College alumni]]
[[Category:People from Morrison, Illinois]]
[[Category:People from San Marino, California]]
[[Category:Presidents of the American Association for the Advancement of Science]]
[[Category:Presidents of the American Physical Society]]
[[Category:Presidents of the California Institute of Technology]]
[[Category:Presidents of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics]]
[[Category:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America editors]]
[[Category:Recipients of Franklin Medal]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Matteucci Medal]]
[[Category:Theistic evolutionists]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]