# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/melba-phillips
# Generated: 2026-08-13T04:56:16.519Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/melba-phillips"
name: "Melba Phillips"
slug: "melba-phillips"
description: "Melba Newell Phillips 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 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."
tagline: "American physicist and science educator (1907–2004)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Melba_Phillips_eating_ice_cream.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "female"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Scientists"
  slug: "scientists"
profileType:
  name: "Scientist"
  slug: "scientist"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "1907-02-01"
deathDate: "2004-11-08"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           46.67
  momentum:             0.4187192118226601
  historical:           12.030456
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BF%D1%81%2C_%D0%9C%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B1%D0%B0"
    title: "Филлипс, Мельба"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%A7_%D9%81%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A8%D8%B3"
    title: "ميلبا فيليبس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%A7_%D9%81%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%BE%D8%B3"
    title: "ميلبا فيليپس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://azb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%85%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%A7_%D9%81%DB%8C%D9%84%DB%8C%D9%BE%D8%B3"
    title: "ملبا فیلیپس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%AE%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%A8%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BE_%E0%A6%A8%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%89%E0%A6%93%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BC%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B2_%E0%A6%AB%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%AA%E0%A6%B8"
    title: "মেনবা নিউওয়েল ফিলিপস"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melba_Phillips"
    title: "Melba Phillips"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melba_Phillips"
    title: "Melba Phillips"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%85%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%A7_%D9%81%DB%8C%D9%84%DB%8C%D9%BE%D8%B3"
    title: "ملبا فیلیپس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melba_Phillips"
    title: "Melba Phillips"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7%9C%D7%91%D7%94_%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%A4%D7%A1"
    title: "מלבה פיליפס"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melba_Phillips"
    title: "Melba Phillips"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ka.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%83%9B%E1%83%94%E1%83%9A%E1%83%91%E1%83%90_%E1%83%A4%E1%83%98%E1%83%9A%E1%83%98%E1%83%9E%E1%83%A1%E1%83%98"
    title: "მელბა ფილიპსი"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melba_Phillips"
    title: "Melba Phillips"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melba_Phillips"
    title: "Melba Phillips"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1751751"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump