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Love and Conductivity: The Story of Eleanor Morgan and Thomas Phipps
Champaign Public Library
200 West Green Street
Champaign, Illinois 61820
(217) 403-2000
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Set in the aftermath of World War I, Love and Conductivity introduces Eleanor Morgan (1895-1967), a teacher of poetry whose dreams of adventure light up her life, leaving no room for thoughts of romance. That is, until a fateful chance encounter with Thomas Erwin Phipps (1895-1990), a physical chemist and Army lieutenant, ignites a connection she cannot shake.
Across the barriers of distance, duty, and mutual fear of vulnerability, their ensuing five-year correspondence breathes new life into an era of profound historical significance, via an immersive tale of love, resilience, and the uncharted territories of both the heart and the world.
Relatively forgotten today, “gentleman-academician” Dr. Thomas Erwin Phipps had an accomplished career as professor of physical Chemistry at the University of Illinois, spanning four decades. In 1930, he was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship to study the field of molecular rays, in conjunction with Professor Otto Stern at the University of Hamburg. And then in 1945,
he took part in the Manhattan Project by measuring the vapor pressure of liquid plutonium at the University of Chicago.
Join Erin Nieto as she discusses their correspondence and shares the histories of Phipps and Morgan, as well as snippets and descriptions of Champaign-Urbana from the letters. The collected correspondence will then be donated by Erin, along with Adele Suslick, to the Champaign County History Museum.