Page "California Institute of Technology" Paragraph 71

Every Halloween, Dabney House conducts the infamous " Millikan pumpkin-drop experiment " from the top of Millikan Library, the highest point on campus.

According to tradition, a claim was once made that the shattering of a pumpkin frozen in liquid nitrogen and dropped from a sufficient height would produce a triboluminescent spark.

This yearly event involves a crowd of observers, who try to spot the elusive spark.

The title of the event is an oblique reference to the famous Millikan oil-drop experiment which measured e, the elemental unit of electrical charge.