Milllikan - USAs secret

Millikan is the key founder of Caltech. He received the Physics Nobel prize for determining the actual charge on the electron, and a series of experiments in which electrons were ejected from metals by UV light. The later confirmed Einstein's genius.

This is the surface layer story of heroic careful physics gently lighting the way for the human race. Deep in the recesses of my brain, I had the impression that he was anti-Semitic and had some radical racial views. Buried in the Wikipedia article this picture emerges and we see that the picture that the textbooks paint doesn't square with what he was thinking.

You may have heard of the term Eugenics. It was a key doctrine and cog in the Nazi madness. Think of it like a road linking scientific thought with genocide. If you were on that road, surrounded by others of like mind you would tend to see the world and thought leading in the direction of a single race society.

Now a surprising number of key Americans subscribed to this way of thinking. Henry Ford is one person for whom I saw the celebratory documentaries, went to his museum in Michigan, I think it was called Greenfield Village, then little by little odd things. Firstly it was standing on top of a lion enclosure and looking at concrete mock log cabins used to defend his Michigan homes. Then it was the site of places where police opened fire on workers.

I have yet to formally research Henry Ford, so my impression is very impressionistic. I would ask for people's opinion first as it quite likely they knew more, and I would then see what they thought of what I had read. It is not a mission-critical must win point but equally one starts to see the thinking that is circulating in that era.

Now the ideas about California been superior because it was more Nordic, raised my interest. Then there are quotes about all the scientists being men of religion. Then the Westinghouse time capsule was a bit of a give away. Then the motivation behind the thorough testing of Einstein's photoelectric effect was to disprove this new comer. It wound up more than confirming the effect and precisely nailing down one of the constants used. I am a little sympathetic here because history does confirm that the logic in getting to the key equations is definitely flaky. However, taking the Einstein's side he did say at the outset they were heuristic - what you would expect type - arguments. Then accepting the Nobel prize for, in you mind, failing to disprove and failing your goals is ... well quite priceless.

The episode that is most disquieting is the deal he struck with his student that he, the supervisor, should take sole credit for the oil drop experiment. Well this is deception, and really can't fit with the due candor that powers science.

As I get to know this ghost of history more, it brings into focus my own world that waves on a history founded on convenience.

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