ROBERT ANDREWS MILLIKAN
Robert Andrews Millikan
was born on 22nd March 1868 at Morrison in the United States. In
1895 he achieved the D.Sc. degree at the Columbia University.
Afterwards he spent one year in Europe at the universities of
Berlin and Gottingen. After return to his native country he became
an assistant to Albert Michelson (at the Chicago University) - a
great physicist who proved that the speed of light does not depend
on the direction of observation.
In 1910 Millikan was
nominated a full professor of the Columbia University. Shortly
afterwards - in 1911 - he determined the elementary charge. In 1915
he became a member of the American Academy of Science. In 1916 he
provided an experimental proof of the law formulated by Albert Einstein, describing the
photoelectric phenomenon.
Later - in 1921 -
Millikan went to California where he became the director of the
Norman Bridge Physical Laboratory at the California Institute of
Technology. In 1922 he was appointed a United States representative
at the Committee for Intellectual Collaboration of the League of
Nations.
In 1923 Robert Millikan
received a Nobel prize.
He was comitted to
scientific activity until as late as 1945, investigating cosmic
rays and atomic structure. At the age of 77 he withdrew from
scientific activity. He died on 19th December 1953.
