A scientist can truly be considered revolutionary when his di Robert Andrews Millikan was born on March 22, 1868 as the second son of Rev. Silas Franklin Millikan (father) and by Mary Jane. Andrews Millikan (mother) in the town of Morrison, Illinois. He attended Maquoketa Community High School in Iowa and after graduation went to Oberlin College in Ohio from 1886 to 1891 and became a teacher of elementary physics. Millikan then continued his studies at Columbia University from 1893 to 1895. He received his doctorate in 1895 from Columbia University. Millikan then spent a year in Germany at the universities of Berlin and Göttingen. He eventually returned to the United States after receiving an invitation from AA Michelson to become an assistant at the new Ryerson Laboratory at the University of Chicago in 1896. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayIn 1902, Millikan married Greta Erwin Blanchard and they had three sons: Clark Blanchard, Glenn Allen, and Max Franklin. After that, Millikan became a professor at the University of Chicago in 1910, a position he held until 1921. ("The 1923 Nobel Prize"). Millikan also proved Einstein's very important photoelectric equation in 1912-1915. During World War I, Millikan was vice president of the National Research Council and was also involved in the manufacture of anti-submarine and meteorological devices. From 1920 to 1923, he was involved in the exploration of hot spark spectroscopy of the elements. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1923. (“The 1923 Nobel Prize”). Millikan died on December 19, 1953 in San Marino, California (he was 85). Millikan was a prolific author throughout his life. Millikan enjoyed playing tennis and golf when he was not a scientist. Millikan held honorary doctorates from some 25 different universities. (“The Nobel Prize 1923”). Millikan's discoveries continue to be appreciated even after his death and will continue to be so for the rest of time. In 1909, Millikan conducted an experiment that earned him a Nobel Peace Prize for his discovery. (The Millikan Oil Drop Experiment) This experiment was called the Oil Drop Experiment. It was a tube-shaped chamber with two charged plates, one positively charged and one negatively charged. The positively charged plate was in the middle while the negatively charged plate was at the bottom. It also included a microscope examining the lower half of the chamber and an oil-filled atomizer attached to the top of the chamber. A flashlight was also present at the back of the room (The Editors of the Encyclopædia Britannica). Using the above setup, Millikan was able to accurately measure the electrical charge of a single electron. This was the first time anyone had managed to achieve this. He did this by using the atomizer to spray a mist of oil droplets into the upper chamber and the force of gravity drew some droplets through a hole in the second chamber. As the droplets fell through the hole, they acquired a negative charge due to the metal plates ionized by the radiation. A flashlight illuminated the droplets and using the microscope, Millikan was able to measure the mass of the droplets. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized paper now from our expert writers. Get a Custom Essay The tension of the metal plates could then be rotated up or down, resulting in a decrease or increase in the movement of the droplet (The Editors of Encyclopædia10^-9.