Editing Melba Phillips (section)

==Early life and education==
Melba Phillips was born on February 1, 1907, near [[Hazleton, Indiana|Hazleton]], [[Gibson County, Indiana]]. She was the only daughter and eldest of Eilda Elizabeth (Meehan) and Virgil B. Phillips' four children.<ref name=Miley>{{cite book | author=Arthur L. Miley | title =Pike County, Indiana Notables: 1816–2016 | publisher =Art Miley | year =2016 | location =La Jolla, California | pages =24–27 | oclc= 956712003}}</ref><ref name=INauthors>{{cite book |author=Donald Eugene Thompson |author2=R. E. Banta | title =Indiana Authors and Their Books, 1917–1966; A Continuation of Indiana Authors and Their Books, 1816–1916, and containing additional names from the earlier period | publisher =Wabash College | year =1974 | location =Crawfordsville, Indiana | pages=480–81 | oclc=929100}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Louise S. Grinstein|author2=Rose K. Rose|author3=Miriam H. Rafailovich|author-link3=Miriam Rafailovich|title=Women in Chemistry and Physics|publisher=Greenwood Press|date=1993|isbn=0-313-27382-0|url=https://archive.org/details/womeninchemistry00grin}}</ref>

Phillips graduated from Union High School in 1922 at the age of fifteen. Intending to become an educator, Phillips studied [[mathematics]] at [[Oakland City University|Oakland City College]] in Indiana, where she earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1926.<ref name=Miley/><ref>{{cite book |author=Jill Marshall | title=Women in Physics | publisher=American Association of Physics Teachers | date=2014 | page=97 |isbn= 978-1-931024-20-4}}</ref> Afterwards, Phillips taught at her former high school for two years before entering graduate school.<ref name=WeissI>{{cite web |author=Jill P. Weiss |title=Melba Phillips: Leader in Science and Conscience, Part I |work=Blogging Hoosier History |publisher=Indiana Historical Bureau|date =September 15, 2016 |url=https://blog.history.in.gov/?p=1118 | access-date =November 13, 2017}}</ref>

Phillips earned a master's degree in physics from Battle Creek College in Michigan in 1928 and a doctorate in physics (PhD) at the [[University of California, Berkeley]] in 1933.<ref name=Miley/><ref name=INauthors/> She was one of the first doctoral students of [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]], who later became scientific head of the [[Manhattan Project]], the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] effort to develop the [[Atomic bomb]].<ref name=Sullivan-Post>{{cite news| author=Patricia Sullivan| title =Physicist Melba Phillips, 97, Dies | newspaper =[[The Washington Post]] | pages =B04 | location =Washington, D. C. | date =November 17, 2004| url =https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55728-2004Nov16.html| access-date =November 13, 2017}}</ref> In 1935, Oppenheimer and Phillips published their description of the [[Oppenheimer–Phillips process]], which explained the behavior of accelerated [[Atomic nucleus|nuclei]] of [[radioactive]], "heavy [[hydrogen]]" [[atoms]].<ref name=Miley/><ref name=Sullivan-Post/> The Oppenheimer–Phillips effect was one of the earliest contributions to nuclear physics.<ref name=NYT>{{cite news |agency=Associated Press| title =Melba Phillips, 97, Physicist Who Worked With Oppenheimer, Dies |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date =November 18, 2004| url =https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/18/education/melba-phillips-97-physicist-who-worked-with-oppenheimer-dies.html| access-date =November 13, 2017}}</ref>