Melba Phillips: Physics, Gender, and the Bomb

During a “heroic age of physics,” Indiana physicist Dr. Melba Phillips published groundbreaking theories with her colleague J. Robert Oppenheimer. Despite her accomplishments, the press was more interested in whether a romantic relationship was sparking between the two scientists. In the wake of the atomic bomb, Phillips organized for the peaceful application of science, even coming to the attention of President Truman. But as fear spread during the McCarthy Era, she was persecuted for her support of free intellectual inquiry and was eventually hauled before a Senate subcommittee and fired from her university jobs. Undeterred, she went on to become a leader in physics education. Melba Phillips’ incredible life was one of moral courage with lessons applicable to today.

Jill Weiss Simins is a historian at the Indiana Historical Bureau (IHB), a division of the Indiana State Library, where she has worked since 2008. She is a founding organizer of the Hoosier Women at Work conference and producer of the award-winning podcast Talking Hoosier History. She writes regularly for the Indiana History Blog and is especially interested in immigration stories. Jill is a life-long Hoosier andholds a B.A. in Fine Arts from Ball State University and a M.A. in History from Indiana University. In 2021, she received two major awards: the Dorothy Riker Hoosier Historian Award from the Indiana Historical Society and the Indiana University Graduate School Distinguished Master’s Thesis Award for the Humanities and Fine Arts. Jill is also a musician and lives in Indianapolis with her husband Russell Simins and a collection of way too many vinyl records.

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