Robert Millikan, Japanese Internment, and Eugenics

TL;DR

This paper reevaluates Robert Millikan's historical reputation by refuting accusations of his involvement in Japanese internment injustices and eugenics, demonstrating his support for Japanese Americans and contextualizing his scientific beliefs.

Contribution

It provides a detailed historical analysis that challenges prevailing accusations against Millikan, clarifying his actual stance on Japanese internment and eugenics based on original sources.

Findings

Millikan actively supported Japanese Americans during WWII.

Caltech's accusations against Millikan are based on false claims.

Millikan's eugenics beliefs were consistent with scientific norms of his time.

Abstract

Robert A. Millikan (1868-1953) was the second American to win the Nobel Prize in physics. At the peak of his influence, no scientist save Einstein was more admired by the American public. Millikan, the head of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) during its first 24 years, oversaw its rapid growth into one of the leading scientific institutions of the world. In response to demands for social justice, Caltech reached a decision to strip Millikan of honors (such as the library named after him), following accusations against him. This article analyzes a specific accusation against Millikan that was published in Nature: that he collaborated to deprive Japanese Americans of their rights during their forced relocation to internment camps during the Second World War. An examination of original historical sources will show that this accusation is false. On the contrary, Millikan actively campaigned during the war to promote the rights of Japanese Americans. The article also treats Caltech's central accusation against Millikan: he lent his name to a morally reprehensible eugenics movement that had been scientifically discredited in his time. In a reversal of Caltech's claims, this article shows that all three of Caltech's scientific witnesses against eugenics were actually pro-eugenic to varying degrees. Millikan's beliefs fell within acceptable scientific norms of his day.