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The Evolution of Matter: Nuclear Physics, Cosmic Rays, and Robert Millikan’s Research Program

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Otto Hahn and the Rise of Nuclear Physics

Part of the book series: The University of Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science ((WONS,volume 22))

Abstract

When Robert A. Millikan was discharged from the Army after World War I he faced a difficult, but sweet, career problem. Before the war, he had completed a series of investigations that many believed at the time would bring him the Nobel Prize. He had just been demoblized from a post that brought him into contact with the leading scientists and scientific entrepreneurs of America. Few prior research commitments weighed upon him. He returned to Chicago and was wooed by the astrophysicist George Ellery Hale to become president of a vigorous educational enterprise in Pasadena, California, soon to be named the California Institute of Technology.1It became obvious that his new series of investigations would have to be on signigicant problems, for they would have to mirror his newly elevated status in the profession.

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  1. Johns Hopkins University, USA

    Robert Kargon

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  1. Robert Kargon
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  1. McGill University, Montreal, Canada

    William R. Shea

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© 1983 D. Reidel Publishing Company

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Kargon, R. (1983). The Evolution of Matter: Nuclear Physics, Cosmic Rays, and Robert Millikan’s Research Program. In: Shea, W.R. (eds) Otto Hahn and the Rise of Nuclear Physics. The University of Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science, vol 22. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7133-2_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7133-2_3

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