Editing Melba Phillips

{{short description|American physicist and science educator}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Melba Newell Phillips
| image             = Melba Phillips.jpg
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1907|2|1|mf=yes}}
| birth_place       = Near [[Hazleton, Indiana|Hazleton]], [[Gibson County, Indiana]]
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|2004|11|8|1907|2|1|mf=yes}}
| death_place       = [[Petersburg, Indiana|Petersburg]], [[Indiana]]
| workplaces        = [[Brooklyn College]] <br /> [[University of Minnesota]] <br /> [[Washington University in St. Louis|Washington University]]  <br /> [[University of Chicago]]
| alma_mater        = [[Oakland City University]] <br /> Battle Creek College <br /> [[University of California, Berkeley]]
| doctoral_advisor  = [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]]
| awards            = [[Oersted Medal]] (1974)
}}
'''Melba Newell Phillips''' (February 1, 1907 – November 8, 2004) was an American [[physicist]] and a pioneer [[science education|science educator]]. One of the first doctoral students of [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]] at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], Phillips completed her PhD in 1933, a time when few women could pursue careers in science. In 1935, Oppenheimer and Phillips published<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Oppenheimer |first1=J. R.  |last2=Phillips |first2=M.  |date=15 September 1935 |title=Note on the Transmutation Function for Deuterons |journal=Phys. Rev. |volume=48 |issue=6 | pages= 500–2|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.48.500   |bibcode=1935PhRv...48..500O}}</ref> their description of the [[Oppenheimer–Phillips process]], an early contribution to nuclear physics that explained the behavior of accelerated [[Atomic nucleus|nuclei]] of [[radioactive]] [[hydrogen]] [[atoms]]. Phillips was also known for her refusal to cooperate with a [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] judiciary subcommittee's investigation on internal security during the [[McCarthyism|McCarthy era]] which led to her dismissal from her professorship at [[Brooklyn College]], where she was a professor of science from 1938 until 1952. (The college publicly and personally apologized to Phillips for the dismissal in 1987.)

Phillips also taught at the [[University of Minnesota]] (1941–44) and served as associate director of a teacher-training institute at [[Washington University in St. Louis|Washington University]] in [[St. Louis]] (1957–62) before joining the faculty at the [[University of Chicago]] (1962–72) as a professor of physics. During her retirement years, Phillips was a visiting professor at [[Stony Brook University]] (1972–75) and taught at the [[University of Science and Technology of China]], [[Chinese Academy of Sciences]] (1980) in [[Beijing]]. Phillips was a fellow of the [[American Physical Society]] and the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]]. In addition to teaching, Phillips co-authored science textbooks and was active in the [[American Association of Physics Teachers]]. In 1981, the AAPT established the Melba Newell Phillips Medal in her honor to recognize outstanding service to the organization.

==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>

==Career==
In an era when few women were working as scientists, Phillips became a leading science educator and spent the majority of her career as a professor of physics.<ref name=Miley/><ref name=NYT/>

Phillips began teaching during the [[Great Depression]]. Initially, she took part-time and temporary positions at Battle Creek College (1928–30) and at [[Connecticut College]] for Women (1937–38).<ref name=INauthors/> Phillips also held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of California and at [[Bryn Mawr College]].<ref name=Chicago>{{cite web| title =Melba Phillips, physicist, 1907-2004 | publisher =University of Chicago News Office  | date =November 16, 2004 | url = http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/04/041116.phillips.shtml | access-date =November 13, 2017}}</ref><ref>"Scope of Material" in {{cite web| title =Oral History Interview with Melba Newell Phillips, 1977 December 5 | work =Information Portal | publisher =American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives | url =http://libserv.aip.org:81/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1100855OLC762.25652&profile=icos&source=~!horizon&view=items&uri=full=3100006~!4821~!1&ri=3&aspect=subtab167&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=Phillips%2C+Melba%2C+1907-&index=PAUTHOR&uindex=&aspect=subtab167&menu=search&ri=3#focus | access-date =November 13, 2017}}</ref> In early 1936 the [[American Association of University Women]] announced that Philips was the recipient of its [[Margaret Eliza Maltby|Margaret E. Maltby]] award, one of six women to receive its research fellowships for the 1936–37 academic year.<ref name=WeissI/> Phillips's research focused on application of [[quantum mechanics]] to the study of nuclear physics.<ref name=WeissI/> Before accepting a full-time faculty position at [[Brooklyn College]] in 1938, Phillips worked as a fellow at the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] in [[Princeton, New Jersey]].<ref name=Miley/><ref name=Sullivan-Post/>

Except for three years during [[World War II]], when she taught at the [[University of Minnesota]] (1941–44), Phillips spent a decade as a professor of physics at [[Brooklyn College]] (1938–52).<ref name=INauthors/><ref name=Miley/> She also conducted research on a part-time basis at the [[Columbia University]] Radiation Laboratory.<ref name=WeissI/> In 1945, while teaching at Brooklyn College, Phillips helped organize the [[Federation of American Scientists]] at a meeting held in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref name=Sullivan-Post/>

In 1952 Phillips was summoned to appear before the [[Pat McCarran|McCarran]] Commission, a judiciary subcommittee investigating internal security during the [[McCarthyism|McCarthy era]].<ref name=Sullivan-Post/><ref name=WeissII>{{cite web| author=Jill P. Weiss | title =Melba Phillips: Leader in Science and Conscience, Part II | work =Blogging Hoosier History | publisher =Indiana Historical Bureau  | date =September 15, 2016 | url = http://blog.history.in.gov/?p=1328 | access-date =November 13, 2017}}</ref> Although Phillips appeared before a subcommittee hearing in New York and agreed to answer questions relating to her work as a scientist and physics educator, she invoked her [[Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fifth Amendment]] rights when asked about other topics, including questions about whether she was a member of the [[Communist party]].<ref name=Miley/> As a result of her refusal to cooperate with the commission as a matter of principle, Phillips, a highly regarded physics educator, was dismissed from her professorship at Brooklyn College and her part-time position at the Columbia University Radiation Laboratory. She remained unemployed as a college professor for five years.<ref name=Sullivan-Post/>

While unemployed, Phillips lived on her modest savings and co-authored two science textbooks:<ref name=Miley/> ''Principles of Physical Science'' (1957), with Francis Bonner, and ''Classical Electricity and Magnetism'' (1955), with [[Wolfgang K. H. Panofsky]].<ref name=INauthors/> Both of these publications became standard textbooks in collegiate-level science courses.<ref name=WeissII/>

Phillips returned to teaching in 1957, when she became associate director of a teacher-training institute at [[Washington University in St. Louis|Washington University]]. Phillips remained at [[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]] until 1962, when she joined the faculty at the [[University of Chicago]] as a professor of physics.<ref name=INauthors/> Under her guidance the university began teaching [[physical science]] courses to non-science majors. She also made laboratory work part of its curriculum.<ref name=WeissII/> Phillips retired as a ''professor emerita'' from the University of Chicago in 1972, but continued to teach elsewhere.<ref name=Miley/>

Philips was active in the [[American Association of Physics Teachers]] throughout her career. She became a member of the AAPT in 1943 and served as its first woman president (1966–67). She also co-edited the organization's official history.<ref name=Sullivan-Post/><ref name=NYT/><ref name=Chicago/> In addition, Phillips served on the Commission in College Physics (1960–68) and on the advisory board of the School of Mathematics Study Group (1964–67).<ref name=INauthors/> For her service to the field of science education, Phillips was elected a fellow of the [[American Physical Society]] and the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]].<ref name=Sullivan-Post/>

== McCarran Commission ==

During the early [[Cold War]], the [[Red Scare]] in the United States led to widespread accusations of disloyalty. As part of this activity, Senator McCarran headed the [[Senate Internal Security Subcommittee]] which called Phillips to testify.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://blog.history.in.gov/tag/melba-phillips/|title=Melba Phillips|website=The Indiana History Blog|date=15 September 2016 |language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-29}}</ref> Phillips worked not only with Robert Oppenheimer on nuclear physics and the [[Oppenheimer–Phillips process]], but also worked with the Teachers' Union.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/04/041116.phillips.shtml|title=Melba Phillips, physicist, 1907-2004|website=www-news.uchicago.edu|access-date=2020-03-29}}</ref> When questioned about whether she was involved with the Communist party, Phillips chose to neither confirm or deny, but to simply state that her lineage goes back just as far as any other American.<ref name=":0" />

== Later years ==
[[File:Melba Phillips and Herman William Koch eating ice cream at an AIP Corporate Associates Meeting.jpg|thumb|Melba Phillips and Herman William Koch eating ice cream at an [[American Institute of Physics|AIP]] Corporate Associates Meeting 1982]]
After she retired from the University of Chicago in 1972, Phillips continued teaching as a visiting professor at [[Stony Brook University]] (1972–75) and at the graduate school of the [[University of Science and Technology of China]], [[Chinese Academy of Sciences]], in [[Beijing]] in 1980.<ref name="Sullivan-Post" />

In 1987 Brooklyn College publicly and personally apologized to Phillips for her dismissal from the College in 1952.<ref name=Miley/><ref name=Sullivan-Post/>

==Death and legacy==
Phillips died of [[coronary artery disease]] on November 8, 2004, at the age of ninety-seven, at Amber Manor nursing home in [[Petersburg, Indiana]].<ref name=Sullivan-Post/>

As a leading physics educator of her era, Phillips received numerous citations and awards for her contributions to science education.<ref name=Sullivan-Post/> Phillips is especially noted for developing and implementing a curriculum for teaching physics and co-authoring two textbooks in the 1950s for collegiate physics courses. She also wrote and edited works history of physics and the history of the [[American Association of Physics Teachers]].<ref name=Sullivan-Post/><ref name=Chicago/>

==Honors and tributes==
* Member, Phi Beta Kappa.<ref name=Miley/>
* Fellow, American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.<ref name=Sullivan-Post/>
* In 1974 Phillips was awarded the [[Oersted Medal]] from the American Association of Physics Teachers; she was also the recipient of the AAPT's Distinguished Service Citation in 1963.<ref name=Chicago/>
* Phillips became the first recipient of the Melba Newell Phillips Medal, an award that the AAPT established in 1981. The medal is periodically presented to AAPT members  "who have provided creative leadership and dedicated service that resulted in exceptional contributions to AAPT."<ref>{{cite web |title=Melba Newell Phillips Medal |url=https://www.aapt.org/Programs/awards/phillips.cfm | publisher =American Association of Physics Teachers |access-date=April 18, 2016}}</ref>
* In 1981 Phillips received the Karl Taylor Compton Award from the American Institute of Physics.<ref name=Chicago/>
* In 1988 she was the recipient of Vanderbilt University's Guy and Rebecca Forman Award for Outstanding Teaching in Undergraduate Physics.<ref name=Chicago/>
* In 1997 Brooklyn College established a scholarship in her honor.<ref name=Sullivan-Post/>
* In 2003 the American Physical Society awarded its Joseph Burton Forum Award to Phillips for her contributions to science education, her role in founding the Federation of American Scientists, and as service as a role model "of a principled scientist."<ref name=Sullivan-Post/><ref name=Chicago/>

==Selected published works==
* ''Principles of Physical Science'', co-authored with Francis Bonner (Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1957)<ref name=INauthors/> 
* ''Classical Electricity and Magnetism'', co-authored with Wolfgang Panofsky (1957)<ref name=INauthors/><ref>{{cite book | author=Melba Phillips and Wolfgang K. H. Panofsky | title =Classical Electricity and Magnetism | publisher =Dover Publications|edition= Second|year=2005|isbn=0-486-43924-0}}</ref>
* ''Principles of Electrodynamics and Relativity'', co-authored with [[Peter Bergmann|P. G. Bergmann]] (1962)<ref name=INauthors/>
* ''On Teaching Physics: Reprints of American Journal of Physics Articles from the First Half Century of AAPT'' (American Association of Physics Teachers, 1979) <ref>{{cite book | author=Melba Phillips | title =On Teaching Physics: Reprints of American Journal of Physics Articles from the First Half Century of AAPT  | publisher = American Association of Physics Teachers | year =1979 | location =Stony Brook, New York | oclc=760987351}}</ref>
* ''Physics History from AAPT Journals'' (American Association of Physics Teachers, 1985)<ref>{{cite book | editor=Melba Phillips| title =Physics History from AAPT Journals | publisher =American Association of Physics Teachers | year =1985 | location =College Park, Maryland | isbn =0-917853-14-8}}</ref>
* ''History of Physics'' (Readings from Physics Today, No 2) (American Institute of Physics, 1985)<ref>{{cite book | author =Spencer R. Weart and Melba Phillips | title =History of Physics | publisher =American Institute of Physics | series =Readings from Physics Today | volume =2 | year =1985 | location =New York | url =https://archive.org/details/historyofphysics0000unse | isbn =978-0-88318-468-4 | url-access =registration }}</ref>
* ''History of Physics II: The Life and Times of Modern Physics'' (Readings from Physics Today, No 5). (American Institute of Physics, 1992)<ref>{{cite book| author=Melba Phillips | title = History of Physics II: The Life and Times of Modern Physics | publisher = American Institute of Physics | series = Readings from Physics Today | volume =5 | year =1992 | location = New York |isbn=0-88318-846-5}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of textbooks in electromagnetism]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite book |author1=Grinstein, Louise S. |author2=Rose K. Rose |author3=Miriam H. Rafailovich |title= Women in Chemistry and Physics |publisher= Greenwood Press |date= 1993 |isbn= 0-313-27382-0 |url= https://archive.org/details/womeninchemistry00grin }}
* {{cite book |author=Marshall, Jill | title=Women in Physics | publisher= American Association of Physics Teachers | date=2014 | page=97 |isbn= 978-1-931024-20-4}}
* {{cite web| title =Melba Phillips, physicist, 1907-2004 |publisher=University of Chicago News Office | date =November 16, 2004|url=http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/04/041116.phillips.shtml | access-date =November 13, 2017}} 
* {{cite book | author=Miley, Arthur L. | title =Pike County, Indiana Notables: 1816–2016 | publisher =Art Miley | year =2016 | location =La Jolla, California | pages =24–27 | oclc= 956712003}}
* "Scope of Material" in {{cite web| title =Oral History Interview with Melba Newell Phillips, 1977 December 5 | work =Information Portal | publisher =American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives |url=http://libserv.aip.org:81/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1100855OLC762.25652&profile=icos&source=~!horizon&view=items&uri=full=3100006~!4821~!1&ri=3&aspect=subtab167&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=Phillips%2C+Melba%2C+1907-&index=PAUTHOR&uindex=&aspect=subtab167&menu=search&ri=3#focus | access-date =November 13, 2017}}
* {{cite news| author=Sullivan, Patricia | 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}} 
* {{cite web |author=Weiss, Jill P. |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}}
* {{cite web| author= Weiss, Jill P. | title =Melba Phillips: Leader in Science and Conscience, Part II | work =Blogging Hoosier History | publisher =Indiana Historical Bureau  | date =September 15, 2016 | url = http://blog.history.in.gov/?p=1328 | access-date =November 13, 2017}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite journal |last1=Lebowitz |first1=J. |last2=Panofsky |first2=W. |last3=Rice |first3=S. |year=2005 |title=Melba Newell Phillips |journal=[[Physics Today]] |volume=58 |issue=7 |pages=80–81 |doi=10.1063/1.2012480|bibcode = 2005PhT....58g..80L |doi-access=free }}

==External links==
* [http://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4821.html "Oral History Interviews: Melba Phillips"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171114202048/https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4821.html |date=2017-11-14 }}, 5 December 1977, transcript, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives

=== Archival collections ===

* [https://libserv.aip.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=168123J908WI9.316648&limitbox_1=LO01+%3D+icos&menu=search&aspect=power&npp=10&ipp=20&spp=20&profile=rev-icos&ri=4&source=%7E%21horizon&index=.GW&term=MELBA+PHILLIPS+PAPERS%2C+1922-1999&x=20&y=8&aspect=power Melba Phillips papers, 1922-1999 (bulk 1950-1985), Niels Bohr Library & Archives]
** [https://repository.aip.org/node/41681 Digitized presence of the Melba Phillips papers, 1922-1999 (bulk 1950-1985), Niels Bohr Library & Archives]
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Melba}}
[[Category:American nuclear physicists]]
[[Category:Physics educators]]
[[Category:1907 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:Washington University in St. Louis physicists]]
[[Category:Oakland City University alumni]]
[[Category:People from Gibson County, Indiana]]
[[Category:People from Petersburg, Indiana]]
[[Category:20th-century American physicists]]
[[Category:20th-century American women scientists]]
[[Category:American women nuclear physicists]]
[[Category:Andrews University alumni]]
[[Category:Brooklyn College faculty]]
[[Category:Deaths from coronary artery disease]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society]]
[[Category:University of Minnesota faculty]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:Presidents of the American Association of Physics Teachers]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Science and Technology of China]]