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.