Robert Millikan

Robert Millikan
Robert Millikan
	Millikan in 1923
1st Chairman of the Executive Council, ; California Institute of Technology
	In office; 1921–1945
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Lee DuBridge
Personal details
Born	Robert Andrews Millikan; March 22, 1868; Morrison, Illinois, US
Died	December 19, 1953 (aged 85); San Marino, California, US
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California
Spouse	Greta Irvin Blanchard (m. 1902; died 1953)
Children	Clark; Glenn; Max;
Education	Maquoketa Community High School
Alma mater	Oberlin College (BA, MA); Columbia University (PhD);
Known for	Oil drop experiment; Photoelectric effect;
Awards	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); Medal for Merit (1949);
Scientific career
Fields	Optics; particle physics;
Institutions	University of Chicago ; (1896–1921); California Institute of Technology (1921–1945);
Thesis	On the polarization of light emitted from the surfaces of incandescent solids and liquids (1895)
Doctoral advisor	Ogden Rood
Doctoral students	See list 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 (1932) ; William H. Pickering (1936) ; Luke Chia-Liu Yuan (1940);
Signature

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."

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. He also served on the board of trustees for Science Service, now known as Society for Science & the Public, from 1921 to 1953.