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92-653: Robert Andrews Millikan (March 22, 1868 – December 19, 1953) was an American physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1923 for the measurement of the elementary charge and for his work on the photoelectric effect . Millikan graduated from Oberlin College in 1891 and obtained his doctorate at Columbia University in 1895. In 1896 he became an assistant at the University of Chicago , where he became

184-726: A centrifugal gun in order to profit personally. Wood recommended termination of Millikan's army commission, but a subsequent investigation by Frank McIntyre , the executive assistant to the army chief of staff, exonerated Millikan. He received the Chinese Order of Jade in 1940. After the War, Millikan contributed to the works of the League of Nations ' Committee on Intellectual Cooperation (from 1922, in replacement to George E. Hale , to 1931), with other prominent researchers ( Marie Curie , Albert Einstein , Hendrik Lorentz , etc.). Millikan

276-700: A master's degree like MSc, MPhil, MPhys or MSci. For research-oriented careers, students work toward a doctoral degree specializing in a particular field. Fields of specialization include experimental and theoretical astrophysics , atomic physics , biological physics , chemical physics , condensed matter physics , cosmology , geophysics , gravitational physics , material science , medical physics , microelectronics , molecular physics , nuclear physics , optics , particle physics , plasma physics , quantum information science , and radiophysics . The three major employers of career physicists are academic institutions, laboratories, and private industries, with

368-407: A psychologist who had an affair with one of his patients. Since the 1980s and 1990s, various stereotypes were re-evaluated, including professors. Writers began to depict professors as just normal human beings and might be quite well-rounded in abilities, excelling both in intelligence and in physical skills. An example of a fictional professor not depicted as shy or absent-minded is Indiana Jones ,

460-429: A thesis or dissertation . In many universities, full professors take on senior managerial roles such as leading departments, research teams and institutes, and filling roles such as president , principal or vice-chancellor . The role of professor may be more public-facing than that of more junior staff, and professors are expected to be national or international leaders in their field of expertise. The term professor

552-482: 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. 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 ,

644-442: A 'person who professes'. Professors are usually experts in their field and teachers of the highest rank. In most systems of academic ranks , "professor" as an unqualified title refers only to the most senior academic position, sometimes informally known as " full professor ". In some countries and institutions, the word professor is also used in titles of lower ranks such as associate professor and assistant professor ; this

736-412: 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. When Albert Einstein published his 1905 paper on the particle theory of light, Millikan was convinced that it had to be wrong, because of

828-619: A complementary relationship between Christian faith and science . He dealt with this in his Terry Lectures at Yale in 1926–27, published as Evolution in Science and Religion . He was a Christian theist and proponent of theistic evolution . 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 ... [with]

920-487: A contratto" (the equivalent of an "adjunct professor"), a non-tenured position which does not require a PhD nor any habilitation, is paid at the end of the academic year nearly €3000 for the entire academic year, without salary during the academic year. There are about 28 thousand "Professori a contratto" in Italy, . Associate Professors have a gross salary in between 52.937,59 and 96.186,12 euros per year, Full Professors have

1012-412: A controversy between the two physicists. After improving his setup, Millikan published his seminal study in 1913. 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

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1104-402: A devout and professed follower of religion." # denotes an acting or interim president Physicist Physicists can apply their knowledge towards solving practical problems or to developing new technologies (also known as applied physics or engineering physics ). The study and practice of physics is based on an intellectual ladder of discoveries and insights from ancient times to

1196-433: A former high-energy experimentalist and current philosopher of science at the 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

1288-583: A full professor in 1910. In 1909 Millikan began a series of experiments to determine the electric charge carried by a single electron. He began by measuring the course of charged water droplets in an electric field . The results suggested that the charge on the droplets is a multiple of the elementary electric charge, but the experiment was not accurate enough to be convincing. He obtained more precise results in 1910 with his oil-drop experiment in which he replaced water (which tended to evaporate too quickly) with oil . In 1914 Millikan took up with similar skill

1380-480: A gross salary in between 75.431,76 and 131.674 Euros per year, and adjunct professors of around 3,000 euros per year. According to The World Salaries , the salary of a professor in any public university is 447,300 SAR, or 119 217.18 USD The salaries of civil servant professors in Spain are fixed on a nationwide basis, but there are some bonuses related to performance and seniority and a number of bonuses granted by

1472-476: A high-school science teacher or research scientist, is depicted as a sensible advisor, a clever inventor, and a helpful friend to his fellow castaways . John Houseman 's portrayal of law school professor Charles W. Kingsfield, Jr., in The Paper Chase (1973) remains the epitome of the strict, authoritarian professor who demands perfection from students. Annalise Keating (played by Viola Davis ) from

1564-492: A major study of the radiation that the physicist Victor Hess had detected coming from outer space. Millikan proved that this radiation is indeed of extraterrestrial origin, and he named it " cosmic rays ." As chairman of the Executive Council of Caltech (the school's governing body at the time) from 1921 until his retirement in 1945, Millikan helped to turn the school into one of the leading research institutions in

1656-452: A minimum, the owner must possess a three-year bachelors or equivalent degree in physics or a related field and an additional minimum of six years' experience in a physics-related activity; or an Honor or equivalent degree in physics or a related field and an additional minimum of five years' experience in a physics-related activity; or master or equivalent degree in physics or a related field and an additional minimum of three years' experience in

1748-510: A physics-related activity; a Doctorate or equivalent degree in Physics or a related field; or training or experience which, in the opinion of the Council, is equivalent to any of the above. Physicists may be a member of a physical society of a country or region. Physical societies commonly publish scientific journals, organize physics conferences and award prizes for contributions to the field of physics. Some examples of physical societies are

1840-573: A place of honor." In 1938, he wrote a short passage to be placed in the Westinghouse Time Capsules . 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

1932-543: A population which is twice as Anglo-Saxon as that existing in New York, Chicago, or any of the great cities of this country." In 1936, Millikan advised the president of Duke University in the then- racial segregated southern United States against recruiting a female physicist and argued that it would be better to hire young men. On account of Millikan's affiliation with the Human Betterment Foundation , in January 2021,

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2024-416: A professional practice examination must also be passed. An exemption can be granted to a candidate that has practiced physics for at least seven years and provide a detailed description of their professional accomplishments which clearly demonstrate that the exam is not necessary. Work experience will be considered physics-related if it uses physics directly or significantly uses the modes of thought (such as

2116-574: A professor as well as an archeologist - adventurer , who is skilled at both scholarship and fighting. The popularity of the Indiana Jones movie franchise had a significant impact on the previous stereotype, and created a new archetype which is both deeply knowledgeable and physically capable. The character generally referred to simply as the Professor on the television sitcom series, Gilligan's Island , although described alternatively as

2208-702: A professor working in Switzerland vary for example between 158,953 CHF (€102,729) to 232,073 CHF (€149,985) at the University of Zurich and 187,937 CHF (€121,461) to 247,280 CHF (€159,774) at the ETH Zurich ; the regulations are different depending on the Cantons of Switzerland . As late as 2021, in the Italian universities there are about 18 thousand Assistant Professors, 23 thousand Associate Professors, and 14 thousand Full Professors. The role of "professore

2300-406: 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". Although Millikan's work formed some of

2392-475: A title given to selected retired professors with whom the university wishes to continue to be associated due to their stature and ongoing research. Emeritus professors do not receive a salary, but they are often given office or lab space, and use of libraries, labs, and so on. The term professor is also used in the titles assistant professor and associate professor , which are not considered professor-level positions in all European countries. In Australia,

2484-525: A title that is "prefixed to a name, it dates from 1706". The "[s]hort form prof is recorded from 1838". The term professor is also used with a different meaning: "[o]ne professing religion. This canting use of the word comes down from the Elizabethan period , but is obsolete in England." A professor is an accomplished and recognized academic. In most Commonwealth nations, as well as northern Europe,

2576-533: A total of 14 payments per year, including 2 extra payments in July and December (but for less than a normal monthly payment). Professors in the United States commonly occupy any of several positions in academia . In the U.S., the word "professor" informally refers collectively to the academic ranks of assistant professor , associate professor , or professor. This usage differs from the predominant usage of

2668-470: Is particularly the case in the United States, where the unqualified word is also used colloquially to refer to associate and assistant professors as well, and often to instructors or lecturers. Professors often conduct original research and commonly teach undergraduate , postgraduate , or professional courses in their fields of expertise. In universities with graduate schools , professors may mentor and supervise graduate students conducting research for

2760-556: Is the Nobel Prize in Physics , awarded since 1901 by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences . National physical societies have many prizes and awards for professional recognition. In the case of the American Physical Society , as of 2023, there are 25 separate prizes and 33 separate awards in the field. Chartered Physicist (CPhys) is a chartered status and a professional qualification awarded by

2852-556: The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) legal drama mystery television series How to Get Away with Murder is a law professor at the fictional Middleton University. Early in the series, Annalise is a self-sufficient and confident woman, respected for being a great law professor and a great lawyer, feared and admired by her students, whose image breaks down as the series progresses. Sandra Oh stars as an English professor, Ji-Yoon Kim, recently promoted to

Robert Andrews Millikan - Misplaced Pages Continue

2944-549: The American Physical Society , the Institute of Physics , with the oldest physical society being the German Physical Society . Professor This is an accepted version of this page Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof. ) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, professor derives from Latin as

3036-697: The Institute of Physics . It is denoted by the postnominals "CPhys". Achieving chartered status in any profession denotes to the wider community a high level of specialised subject knowledge and professional competence. According to the Institute of Physics, holders of the award of the Chartered Physicist (CPhys) demonstrate the "highest standards of professionalism, up-to-date expertise, quality and safety" along with "the capacity to undertake independent practice and exercise leadership" as well as "commitment to keep pace with advancing knowledge and with

3128-548: The Islamic medieval period , which saw the development of scientific methodology emphasising experimentation , such as the work of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) in the 11th century. The modern scientific worldview and the bulk of physics education can be said to flow from the scientific revolution in Europe, starting with the work of astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus leading to the physics of Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler in

3220-653: The Long Beach Unified School District established a committee that would examine the need for renaming of their Robert A. Millikan High School . An October 2023 attempt to get the school board to restart the stalled renaming process failed. As of August 2024, Long Beach remains the only city that still has an educational institution named in honor of Millikan. In the spring of 2021, the American Association of Physics Teachers voted unanimously to remove Millikan's name from

3312-778: The Robert A. Millikan award , which honors "notable and intellectually creative contributions to the teaching of physics." 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. In 1902, he married Greta Ervin Blanchard (1876–1953), who pre-deceased him by 3 months. They had three sons: Clark Blanchard , Glenn Allan , and Max Franklin . "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

3404-701: The 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. A few years later Throop College became the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and Millikan left the University of Chicago to become Caltech's "chairman of the executive council" (effectively its president). Millikan served in that position from 1921 to 1945. At Caltech, most of his scientific research focused on

3496-544: The X-Men franchise, Professor Marvel in The Wizard of Oz and Professor Drosselmeyer (as he is sometimes known) from the ballet The Nutcracker . Also, the magician played by Christian Bale in the film The Prestige adopts 'The Professor' as his stage name . A variation of this type of non-academic professor is the "crackpot inventor", as portrayed by Professor Potts in the film version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or

3588-603: The protagonists in his novels. Professor Henry Higgins is a main character in George Bernard Shaw 's play Pygmalion . In the Harry Potter series, set at the wizard school Hogwarts , the teachers are known as professors, many of whom play important roles, notably Professors Dumbledore , McGonagall and Snape . In the board game Cluedo , Professor Plum has been depicted as an absent-minded academic. Christopher Lloyd played Plum's film counterpart,

3680-401: The "Deutscher Hochschulverband DHV", a lobby group for German professors, the salary of professors, the annual salary of a German professor is € 46,680 in group "W2" (mid-level) and €56,683 in group "W3" (the highest level), without performance-related bonuses. The anticipated average earnings with performance-related bonuses for a German professor is €71,500. The anticipated average earnings of

3772-579: The 19th century. Many physicists contributed to the development of quantum mechanics in the early-to-mid 20th century. New knowledge in the early 21st century includes a large increase in understanding physical cosmology . The broad and general study of nature, natural philosophy , was divided into several fields in the 19th century, when the concept of "science" received its modern shape. Specific categories emerged, such as "biology" and "biologist", "physics" and "physicist", "chemistry" and "chemist", among other technical fields and titles. The term physicist

Robert Andrews Millikan - Misplaced Pages Continue

3864-489: The Autonomous Regional governments. These bonuses include three-year premiums ( Spanish : trienios , according to seniority), five-year premiums ( quinquenios , according to compliance with teaching criteria set by the university) and six-year premiums ( sexenios , according to compliance with research criteria laid down by the national government). These salary bonuses are relatively small. Nevertheless,

3956-679: 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. This criticism has been rigorously analyzed in 2023 by mathematician Thomas C. Hales in, concluding: "In a reversal of Caltech's claims, this article shows that all three of Caltech's scientific witnesses against eugenics were actually pro-eugenic to varying degrees. Millikan's beliefs fell within acceptable scientific norms of his day." His analysis further proposed to remedy

4048-525: 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, the board of trustees voted to immediately strip Millikan's name from the Caltech campus because of his association with eugenics. The Robert A. Millikan Library has been renamed Caltech Hall. In November 2021,

4140-488: The Caltech's decision as follows: "The following remedies are recommended. President Rosenbaum and the Caltech Board of Trustees should rescind their endorsement of the CNR report. The report itself should be retracted 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. Caltech should restore Robert Andrews Millikan to

4232-592: The Jerry Lewis-inspired Professor Frink character on The Simpsons . Other professors of this type are the thoughtful and kind Professor Digory Kirke of C. S. Lewis 's Chronicles of Narnia . The title has been used by comedians , such as "Professor" Irwin Corey and Soupy Sales in his role as "The Big Professor". In the past, pianists in saloons and other rough environments have been called "professor". The puppeteer of

4324-580: The Netherlands in relation to that of other countries. Among the countries reviewed are the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, France, Sweden and the Netherlands. To improve comparability, adjustments have been made to correct for purchasing power and taxes. Because of differences between institutions in the US and UK these countries have two listings of which one denotes

4416-756: The Robert A. Millikan Professorship was renamed the Judge Shirley Hufstedler Professorship. In November 2020, Millikan Middle School (formerly Millikan Junior High School) in the suburban Los Angeles neighborhood of Sherman Oaks started the process of renaming their school. 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 . In August 2020,

4508-781: 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. Millikan was an elected member of the American Philosophical Society , the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , and the United States National Academy of Sciences . He was elected an Honorary Member of the Optical Society of America in 1950. Robert Andrews Millikan

4600-399: The approach to problem-solving) developed in your education or experience as a physicist, in all cases regardless of whether the experience is in academia, industry, government, or elsewhere. Management of physics-related work qualifies, and so does appropriate graduate student work. The South African Institute of Physics also delivers a certification of Professional Physicist (Pr.Phys). At

4692-410: 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 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

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4784-852: The basis of research achievements and external grant-raising success. Many colleges and universities and other institutions of higher learning throughout the world follow a similar hierarchical ranking structure amongst scholars in academia ; the list above provides details. A professor typically earns a base salary and a range of employee benefits . In addition, a professor who undertakes additional roles in their institution (e.g., department chair, dean, head of graduate studies, etc.) sometimes earns additional income. Some professors also earn additional income by moonlighting in other jobs, such as consulting , publishing academic or popular press books, giving speeches, or coaching executives. Some fields (e.g., business and computer science) give professors more opportunities for outside work. A report from 2005 by

4876-557: The case elsewhere. Traditional fictional portrayals of professors, in accordance with a stereotype , are shy, absent-minded individuals often lost in thought. In many cases, fictional professors are socially or physically awkward. Examples include the 1961 film The Absent-Minded Professor or Professor Calculus of The Adventures of Tintin stories. Professors have also been portrayed as being misguided into an evil pathway, such as Professor Metz, who helped Bond villain Blofeld in

4968-401: 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

5060-420: 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 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

5152-520: The designation of Professional Engineer (P. Eng.). This designation was unveiled at the CAP congress in 1999 and already more than 200 people carry this distinction. To get the certification, at minimum proof of honours bachelor or higher degree in physics or a closely related discipline must be provided. Also, the physicist must have completed, or be about to complete, three years of recent physics-related work experience after graduation. And, unless exempted,

5244-423: 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 coulomb ), which is the charge of a single electron. That this is somewhat lower than the modern value of 1.602 176 53(14) x 10 coulomb is probably due to Millikan's use of an inaccurate value for the viscosity of air . Although at

5336-459: The early 1600s. The work on mechanics , along with a mathematical treatment of physical systems, was further developed by Christiaan Huygens and culminated in Newton's laws of motion and Newton's law of universal gravitation by the end of the 17th century. The experimental discoveries of Faraday and the theory of Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism were developmental high points during

5428-415: The electron charge was known). Professor Millikan took sole credit, in return for Harvey Fletcher claiming full authorship on a related result for his dissertation. Millikan went on to win the 1923 Nobel Prize for Physics , in part for this work, and Fletcher kept the agreement a secret until his death. After a publication on his first results in 1910, contradictory observations by Felix Ehrenhaft started

5520-604: The experimental verification of the equation introduced by Albert Einstein in 1905 to describe the photoelectric effect. He used this same research to obtain an accurate value of the Planck constant . In 1921 Millikan left the University of Chicago to become director of the Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena , California . There he undertook

5612-401: The film Diamonds Are Forever ; or simply evil, like Professor Moriarty , archenemy of British detective Sherlock Holmes . The modern animated series Futurama has Professor Hubert Farnsworth , a typical absent-minded but genius-level professor. A related stereotype is the mad scientist . Vladimir Nabokov , author and professor of English at Cornell , frequently used professors as

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5704-578: The granting institution. In general, the title of professor is strictly used for academic positions rather than for those holding it on honorary basis. Professors are qualified experts in their field who generally perform some or all the following tasks: Other roles of professorial tasks depend on the institution, its legacy, protocols, place (country), and time. For example, professors at research-oriented universities in North America and, generally, at European universities, are promoted primarily on

5796-756: The increasing expectations and requirements for which any profession must take responsibility". Chartered Physicist is considered to be equal in status to Chartered Engineer, which the IoP also awards as a member of the Engineering Council UK, and other chartered statuses in the UK. It is also considered a "regulated profession" under the European professional qualification directives. The Canadian Association of Physicists can appoint an official designation called Professional Physicist ( P. Phys. ), similar to

5888-1180: The largest employer being the last. Physicists in academia or government labs tend to have titles such as Assistants, Professors , Sr./Jr. Scientist, or postdocs . As per the American Institute of Physics , some 20% of new physics Ph.D.s holds jobs in engineering development programs, while 14% turn to computer software and about 11% are in business/education. A majority of physicists employed apply their skills and training to interdisciplinary sectors (e.g. finance ). Job titles for graduate physicists include Agricultural Scientist , Air Traffic Controller , Biophysicist , Computer Programmer , Electrical Engineer , Environmental Analyst , Geophysicist , Medical Physicist , Meteorologist , Oceanographer , Physics Teacher / Professor / Researcher , Research Scientist , Reactor Physicist , Engineering Physicist , Satellite Missions Analyst, Science Writer , Stratigrapher , Software Engineer , Systems Engineer , Microelectronics Engineer , Radar Developer, Technical Consultant, etc. The majority of Physics terminal bachelor's degree holders are employed in

5980-512: 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. In 1917, solar astronomer George Ellery Hale convinced Millikan to begin spending several months each year at

6072-448: 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." "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

6164-464: The position is often held by particularly distinguished scholars; thus the position is often seen as more prestigious than an ordinary full professorship. The title is used in a somewhat similar sense in the United States , with the exception that research professors in the United States are often not permanent employees and often must fund their salary from external sources, which is usually not

6256-419: 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

6348-620: The present. Many mathematical and physical ideas used today found their earliest expression in the work of ancient civilizations, such as the Babylonian astronomers and Egyptian engineers , the Greek philosophers of science and mathematicians such as Thales of Miletus , Euclid in Ptolemaic Egypt , Archimedes of Syracuse and Aristarchus of Samos . Roots also emerged in ancient Asian cultures such as India and China, and particularly

6440-433: The private sector. Other fields are academia, government and military service, nonprofit entities, labs and teaching. Typical duties of physicists with master's and doctoral degrees working in their domain involve research, observation and analysis, data preparation, instrumentation, design and development of industrial or medical equipment, computing and software development, etc. The highest honor awarded to physicists

6532-400: The role of department chair in the 2021 Netflix series The Chair . The series includes her character's negotiation of liberal arts campus politics, in particular issues of racism, sexism, and social mores. Mysterious, older men with magical powers (and unclear academic standing) are sometimes given the title of "Professor" in literature and theater. Notable examples include Professor X in

6624-483: The salary in top-tier institutions (based on the Shanghai-ranking ). The table below shows the final reference wages (per year) expressed in net amounts of Dutch euros in 2014 (i.e., converted into Dutch purchasing power ). In a number of countries, the title "research professor" refers to a professor who is exclusively or mainly engaged in research, and who has few or no teaching obligations. For example,

6716-552: The street. 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. On

6808-409: 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 particles (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

6900-486: 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. Millikan's enthusiasm for education continued throughout his career, and he was the coauthor of a popular and influential series of introductory textbooks, which were ahead of their time in many ways. Compared to other books of

6992-425: The time of Millikan's oil-drop experiments it was becoming clear that there exist such things as subatomic particles, not everyone was convinced. Experimenting with cathode rays 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 FitzGerald and Walter Kaufmann . Most of what

7084-454: 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. Starting in 1908, while a professor at the University of Chicago , Millikan worked on an oil-drop experiment in which he measured the charge on a single electron . J. J. Thomson had already discovered

7176-576: The title associate professor is used in place of the term reader as used in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries; ranking above senior lecturer and below full professor. Beyond holding the proper academic title, universities in many countries also give notable artists, athletes and foreign dignitaries the title honorary professor , even if these persons do not have the academic qualifications typically necessary for professorship and they do not take up professorial duties. However, such "professors" usually do not undertake academic work for

7268-401: The title professor is the highest academic rank at a university. In the United States and Canada , the title of professor applies to most post-doctoral academics, so a larger percentage are thus designated. In these areas, professors are scholars with doctorate degrees (typically PhD degrees) or equivalent qualifications who teach in colleges and universities . An emeritus professor is

7360-485: The title is used in this sense in the United Kingdom (where it is known as a research professor at some universities and professorial research fellow at some other institutions) and in northern Europe . A research professor is usually the most senior rank of a research-focused career pathway in those countries and is regarded as equal to the ordinary full professor rank. Most often they are permanent employees, and

7452-517: The total number of sexenios is a prerequisite for being a member of different committees. The importance of these sexenios as a prestige factor in the university was enhanced by legislation in 2001 (LOU). Some indicative numbers can be interesting, in spite of the variance in the data. We report net monthly payments (after taxes and social security fees), without bonuses: Ayudante, €1,200; Ayudante Doctor, €1,400; Contratado Doctor; €1,800; Profesor Titular, €2,000; Catedrático, €2,400. There are

7544-580: 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, 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

7636-409: 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. Millikan died at a Pasadena nursing home in 1953 at age 85, and

7728-467: The word "professor" internationally, where the unqualified word "professor" only refers to full professors. The majority of university lecturers and instructors in the United States, as of 2015 , do not occupy these tenure-track ranks, but are part-time adjuncts. In 2007 the Dutch social fund for the academic sector SoFoKleS commissioned a comparative study of the wage structure of academic professions in

7820-403: Was a member of the organizing committee of the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics , and in his private life was an enthusiastic tennis player. He was married and had three sons, the eldest of whom, Clark B. Millikan , became a prominent aerodynamic engineer. Another son, Glenn , also a physicist, married the daughter (Clare) of George Leigh Mallory of "Because it's there" Mount Everest fame. Glenn

7912-537: Was born on March 22, 1868, in Morrison, Illinois . He went to high school in Maquoketa, Iowa and received a bachelor's degree in the classics from Oberlin College in 1891 and his doctorate in physics from Columbia University in 1895 – he was the first to earn a Ph.D. from that department. At the close of my sophomore year [...] my Greek professor [...] asked me to teach the course in elementary physics in

8004-746: Was coined by William Whewell (also the originator of the term "scientist") in his 1840 book The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences . A standard undergraduate physics curriculum consists of classical mechanics , electricity and magnetism , non-relativistic quantum mechanics , optics , statistical mechanics and thermodynamics , and laboratory experience. Physics students also need training in mathematics ( calculus , differential equations , linear algebra , complex analysis , etc.), and in computer science . Any physics-oriented career position requires at least an undergraduate degree in physics or applied physics, while career options widen with

8096-606: Was eventually proven right by the observation that cosmic rays are deflected by the Earth's magnetic field (hence must be charged particles). Millikan was Vice Chairman of the 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

8188-452: Was first used in the late 14th century to mean 'one who teaches a branch of knowledge'. The word comes "...from Old French professeur (14c.) and directly from [the] Latin professor [, for] 'person who professes to be an expert in some art or science; teacher of highest rank ' "; the Latin term came from the "... agent noun from profiteri 'lay claim to, declare openly ' ". As

8280-603: Was interred in the "Court of Honor" at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California . On January 26, 1982, he was honored by the United States Postal Service with a 37¢ Great Americans series (1980–2000) postage stamp . Tektronix named a street on their Portland, Oregon , campus after Millikan with the Millikan Way (MAX station) of Portland 's MAX Blue Line named after

8372-574: Was killed in a climbing accident in Cumberland Mountains in 1947. 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. A religious man and the son of a minister, in his later life Millikan argued strongly for

8464-435: 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 photons. 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

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