This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.
Like most folks who live in America's heartland, the good people of Maquoketa, Iowa, are more than willing to give honor where honor is due—once they make sure it's actually due. That's why it has taken seventy-five years for them to honor their most famous native son: Robert A. Millikan.
Millikan was born across the river in Morrison, Illinois, in 1868, but the family shortly moved to Maquoketa by wagon train. He grew up there on West Platt Street.
And there he might have remained, except that an algebra teacher at Maquoketa High School fired in the young boy a passion for science. That awakening led him to Oberlin College and then to the Universities of Berlin and Gottingen to study physics. In 1896 he joined the faculty of the University of Chicago until 1921 when he helped found the California Institute of Technology. There, in 1923, he discovered a way to measure the electrical charge of an electron in an atom, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize.
Over the years, Robert Millikan returned many times to his boyhood home in Maquoketa. Although world famous, he was still just Robert there. No accolades. After all, the Nobel Prize was one of those foreign things, and as for an electron, you can't see it so how can you prove it's really there? Might be a hoax.
In 1925 Robert Millikan went on to discover and name "cosmic rays." Still no accolades from Maquoketa. Cosmic rays sounded like science fiction. After he died in 1953, Maquoketa did put up a small sign at the edge of town that read "boyhood home of Robert Millikan," but there were no parades.
Finally, 75 years later, the historical society in Maquoketa is planning a Millikan Diamond Weekend for June 1998. They will bring in speakers from the Universities where he taught, and display highlights of Millikan's atomic research. There will be a science fair with student exhibits.
So, Robert Millikan finally has his due honors. At this point, it might even be safe to find out who that algebra teacher was at Maquoketa High School and give him a place in that exhibit.
Rock Island Lines with Roald Tweet is underwritten by the Scott County Regional Authority, with additional funding from the Illinois Arts Council and Augustana College, Rock Island.
