Melba Phillips
American physicist and science educator (1907-2004) · United States · On the map · Scientists · Died at 97
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.
Melba Phillips is read about 36 times a day, in 14 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 9 October 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 120 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?People around Melba
Close ties
Media & music
Awards
About this person
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.
