Who was Robert S. Mulliken? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Also Known As: Robert Sanderson Mulliken

Died At Age: 90

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Mary Helen Von Noe

father: Samuel Parsons Mulliken

mother: Katherine W. Mulliken

Chemists Physicists

Died on: October 31, 1986

place of death: Arlington County, Virginia, United States

Grouping of People: Nobel Laureates in Chemistry

Cause of Death: Congestive Heart Failure

U.S. State: Massachusetts

City: Newburyport, Massachusetts

More Facts

education: Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, University of Chicago

awards: Peter Debye Award (1963)
Nobel Prize for chemistry (1966)
ForMemRS (1967)
Priestley Medal (1983)

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Childhood & Early Life

Robert Mulliken was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts on June 7, 1896 to Samuel Parsons Mulliken and Katherine W. Mulliken. Samuel Mulliken was a professor of Organic Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

He assisted his father in editorial work of his four volume text book on ‘Organic Compound Identification’ and eventually became a master of the nomenclature of organic chemistry.

As a child, Mulliken had a brilliant as well as a selective memory. For instance, he mastered the botanical name of plants, but couldn’t remember his most favorite German high school teacher.

Mulliken graduated from school in 1913 and received a scholarship to join the MIT which his father had also received, during his education. Like his father, he also took up majors in chemistry. He received his B.S degree in chemistry from MIT in 1917.

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Career

In 1917, the United States had just entered the World War I and Mulliken got a wartime job as a Junior Chemical Engineer and worked for the United States Bureau of Mines. He also conducted research on poisonous gases at the American University, Washington D.C at that time.

After World War I ended in 1918, Mulliken worked as a Chemist at the New Jersey Zinc Company for a year.

He realized that it was not what he wanted to do and quit the job to pursue a PhD at the University of Chicago in 1919.

He obtained his doctorate in 1921 for his research on separation of isotopes of the molecules of Mercury by evaporation. He continued with his isotope research until he attended a course conducted by Nobel laureate physicist Robert A. Millikan, which kick started his interest in Quantum theory.

In 1925, Mulliken travelled to Europe and worked on Quantum Mechanics with outstanding scientists of the time such as Erwin Schrodinger, Max Born, Werner Heisenberg and others for the next two years.

From 1926, he taught Physics at the New York University for the next three years. This was his first recognition as a physicist though he majored in chemistry.

In 1929, he again moved to University of Chicago as an Associate Professor of Physics and later in 1931 became a Professor. He continued his research on Molecular orbital theory and gradually refined it.

In 1936, he became a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He was the youngest member in the history of the organization at that time.

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Major Works

In 1927, Mulliken worked with Friedrich Hund and developed the Hund-Mulliken theory.

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He was also responsible for developing the ‘Mulliken Population Analysis’, a method of assigning charges to atoms in a molecule.

In 1934, he devised a method for estimating the electro negativity of elements. It was not as popular as Pauling electro negativity which can be found in textbooks, but considered to be a better indicator of the electro negativity property by experts.

During the World War II (from 1942 to 1945), he collaborated in the Manhattan project and was appointed as the Director of Information Division for the Plutonium Project at the University of Chicago.

Awards & Achievements

In 1966, Mulliken received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on ‘fundamental work concerning chemical bonds and the electronic structure of molecules by the molecular orbital method’

In 1983, he received the Priestly medal by the American Chemical Society (ACS), which is the society’s highest honor awarded for distinguished service in chemistry.

Mulliken also received numerous awards and honors from several universities across the world.

Personal life & Legacy

He married Mary Helen Von Noe on December 24, 1929. They have two daughters. Mulliken’s wife Helen died in 1975.

Mulliken died due to a cardiac arrest at his daughter’s home in Arlington, Virginia on October 31, 1986.

He is survived by his daughter Lucia Maria, two grand children and two great grand children.

Robert S. Mulliken Biography