Source: Utah History to Go — Harvey Fletcher
source confidence: High status: Useful updated 2026-06-19
Summary
The Utah State History "Utah History to Go" entry on Harvey Fletcher, providing a biographical overview of Fletcher's life, Utah connections, and scientific contributions. Published by the Utah Division of State History, a state government agency.
Useful Claims
- Harvey Fletcher was born in Provo, Utah in 1884.
- Fletcher earned his undergraduate degree at BYU and his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 1911.
- He worked with Robert Millikan on the oil-drop experiment measuring the electron charge.
- Fletcher spent his research career at Bell Telephone Laboratories before returning to Utah.
- He is recognized as a significant Utah-born scientist in the state's historical record.
Verbatim
"Born on September 11, 1884, in Provo, Utah, to Charles and Elizabeth Fletcher, he attended local schools. He delivered groceries to pay for his tuition at Brigham Young University, graduating in 1907 and beginning a teaching career there." — History to Go biography, early life
"Fletcher pursued doctoral studies in physics at the University of Chicago under Robert A. Millikan. He worked very closely with him on research that resulted in the first measurement of the charge on an electron, for which Millikan alone received the Nobel Prize in 1923." — History to Go biography, doctoral research
"After receiving a Ph.D. in 1911—the first physics student at the University of Chicago to graduate summa cum laude—Fletcher returned to teach at BYU." — History to Go biography, education
"He finally accepted in 1916 and worked for what became the Bell Laboratories until 1949." — History to Go biography, Bell Laboratories
Reliability Notes
Utah State History is a government agency with scholarly standards; this entry is a curated secondary source appropriate for biographical facts and Utah context. As a general historical overview rather than a specialist acoustics source, technical details of the stereo work should be verified against Bell Labs primary records or specialist audio engineering histories.