Roger C. Millikan
About Optica
In Memoriam: Roger C. Millikan, 1931-2019
19 September 2019
Roger C. Millikan, an Optica Emeritus Member and Fellow (1982), passed away on 9 September 2019 at the age of 88. Millikan’s work on the systematics of vibrational relaxation contributed to NASA’s Scientific and Information Division. His research led to the ability to analyze the effects of concentrated and vibrational relaxation on the induction period of the hydrogen-oxygen reaction. Millikan also co-discovered the molecule BO2, which is responsible for the green color of boron-containing flames.
Millikan was born on 27 January 1931 in Tiffin, Ohio. He went to Oberlin College where he received his Bachelor of Science degree and studied closely under faculty such as Luke E. Steiner, who developed the college’s “school” of thermodynamics. Millikan was one of the students who contributed solutions to the second edition of the Introduction to Thermodynamics. After Oberlin, he attended UC Berkeley a pursued a PhD in Chemistry. After his studies, Millikan went to work as a research chemist for General Electric Company in Schenectady, New York. At General Electric, he measured the special variation of soot absorption. His research provided the first concrete evidence that the absorption properties of soot varied depending on its position within a flame and were linked to soot’s chemical composition. Ten years later, he accepted a position as a professor of chemistry at UC Santa Barbara.
When Millikan retired from teaching, he took up bird photography, edited UC Santa Barbara’s alumni newsletter and published a book on the Cachuma Lake Nature Center. He went on to publish another book titled, Birds of Lake Los Carneros.
He is survived by his five children, seven grandchildren and two brothers David and Joel.
Optica, his former students and the scientific community mourn the loss of Roger C. Millikan.
