Millikan Busted Photo

Photographer’s Note

This was taken at Cal Tech--California Institute of Technology. It's a bust of Robert Millikan a Nobel Prize winning physicist. And no, to the best of my knowledge Prof. Millikan was nver arrasted.

Nobody has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

batalay (20804) 2007-05-02 15:10

Hello Tom,

As a physicist, I was immediately attracted to this image. I have not seen the statue, although I visited Caltech in 1994 and 2004 to give a pair of talks. I don't think Millikan was ever arrested, but in fudging some of his data, he commited a crime; for fudging them and getting the correct answers, he has to be lauded. More than anyone else, he helped to make Caltech a preeminent institution in the sciences. In 1997 JJ Thomson at the Cavendish Lab, Cambridge had "discovered" the electron, measuring the charge-to-mass ratio of the electron. Around 1909 Millikan measured the charge of the electron, as -1.602x10^-19 coulombs, a result that led to the determination of the mass of the electron as well. Then in 1932 his assistant C. D. Anderson detected the anti-electron (positron), following the advice of his great mentor. Anderson won the 1938 Nobel Prize.

If you get a chance take a look at Genius!.

Great post,

Bulent

jmdias (19041) 2007-05-29 21:23

tom

I liked these simple shapes and colors, very nice crop and pov

Jorge