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chicagotribune.com >> Obituaries
MELBA PHILLIPS, 97
Pioneering U. of C. physicist
Associated Press
Published November 19, 2004
Retired University of Chicago physicist Melba Phillips, a pioneer in science education who trained under J. Robert Oppenheimer and was thrown out of work for years during the McCarthy era, has died. She was 97.
Ms. Phillips died Nov. 8 in Petersburg, Ind.
At a time when there were few women scientists, Ms. Phillips was a leader among her peers. She received her doctoral degree in 1933 from the University of California at Berkeley and was one of the first doctoral students of Oppenheimer, who later led the team that built the first atomic bomb.
In 1935, Ms. Phillips and Oppenheimer offered an explanation for what then were unexpected reactions of different kinds of subatomic particles. That explanation, the Oppenheimer-Phillips effect, is "considered one of the classics of early nuclear physics," said Stuart Rice, a U. of C. physicist who studied under Ms. Phillips.
In the 1940s, Ms. Phillips helped found the Federation of American Scientists at a meeting in Washington.
"This was a very important meeting because it forged a strong bond within the entire scientific community, and we went to work on civilian control of atomic energy," said Francis Bonner, a longtime friend and a professor emeritus of chemistry at State University of New York, Stony Brook.
Much of Ms. Phillips' career was devoted to education, and "she stimulated many students who went on from there to very stellar careers," Bonner said.
Ms. Phillips developed and implemented training for teaching physics, led an effort to improve the preparation of physics teachers and helped write two textbooks. She worked at Brooklyn College and the Columbia University Radiation Laboratory, but lost both jobs in the 1950s after refusing to testify before a Senate subcommittee investigating alleged communist activities.
In 1966 she was named the first woman president of the American Association of Physics Teachers and later was given the first Melba Newell Phillips Award, created in her honor.
After helping direct a teacher-training institute at Washington University, Ms. Phillips joined the faculty at U. of C. in 1962. There she spearheaded an effort to teach physical science courses to non-science majors. In 1972 she retired, but she continued to teach.
The family plans no public memorial service, in accordance with her wishes, according to the University of Chicago.
Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune
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