Melba Phillips

Melba Newell Phillips
Born	(1907-02-01)February 1, 1907 Near Hazleton, Gibson County, Indiana
Died	November 8, 2004(2004-11-08) (aged 97) Petersburg, Indiana
Alma mater	Oakland City University Battle Creek College University of California, Berkeley
Awards	Oersted Medal (1974)
Scientific career
Institutions	Brooklyn College University of Minnesota Washington University University of Chicago
Doctoral advisor	J. Robert Oppenheimer

Melba Newell Phillips (February 1, 1907 – November 8, 2004) was an American physicist and a pioneer 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^[1] their description of the Oppenheimer–Phillips process, an early contribution to nuclear physics that explained the behavior of accelerated nuclei of radioactive hydrogen atoms. Phillips was also known for her refusal to cooperate with a U.S. Senate judiciary subcommittee's investigation on internal security during the 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 (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 Science (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.