Links to Literature

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• Millikan’s Nobel Lecture in 1924 is available here. The first half of his lecture includes some history followed by his work on the oil-drop experiment.

Your Turn 1. What was Robert Millikan’s view of the nature of science?

2. Did Millikan discuss and acknowledge the previous work of other scientists? Who was acknowledged and who was not? Do you think that this was reasonable or fair?

• George Stoney’s letter to the editors of the Philosophical Magazine in 1894 is reproduced here.

Your Turn 3. What was the purpose of Stoney’s letter? What does this illustrate about the nature of science and the scientific community?

• According to many sources, including most textbooks, Robert Millikan “cooked his results” or, in other words, he is guilty of scientific fraud. He has also been accused of mistreating his graduate students. Read the article, In Defense of Robert Andrews Millikan.

Your Turn 4. Do you think the criticism of scientific fraud is justified? Explain your answer.

• The famous physicist Richard Feynman coined the term “cargo cult science”—any work that resembles science but lacks scientific integrity. One of his many examples includes the replication of the oil-drop experiment by other scientists. Feynman used this as an example of some of the ways we fool ourselves. See his remarks about this experiment at the end of this article and his original full remarks here.

Your Turn 5. In your own words, describe Feynman’s criticism. Do you agree with him that we no longer have this “disease”? Why or why not?