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GLENN THEODORE SEABORG
(1912-1999)
Chief
- Plutonium Separation
Project
"Y"
 Glenn
Theodore Seaborg was born in Ishpeming, Michigan, on April 19, 1912.
At the age of 10 he moved with his family to California, in 1929 he
graduated at David Starr Jordan High School in Los Angeles as
valedictorian of his class.
He entered the University of California,
Los Angeles, in 1929, and received the degree of Ph.D. in Chemistry
from the University of California,
Berkeley, in 1937. From 1937 to 1939 he was the personal laboratory
assistant of the late G. N. Lewis, with whom he published a number of
scientific papers. In 1939, Dr. Seaborg was appointed an instructor in
chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was
promoted to Assistant Professor in 1941, and to Professor of Chemistry
in 1945. In 1946, he also took responsibility for direction of nuclear
chemical research at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, operated for the
Atomic Energy Commission by the University of California; from 1954 to
1961, he was Associate Director of LRL. In the same year, he was
appointed by President Truman to be a member of the AEC's first General
Advisory Committee, a post he held until 1950. In 1958, he was appointed
Chancellor of the University of California at Berkeley. In that capacity
he served until his appointment by President Kennedy to the Atomic
Energy Commission in 1961, when he was designated Chairman of the
Commission. His term of office expires in 1968. From 1959 to 1961, he
was also a member of the President's Science Advisory Committee. Dr.
Seaborg was given a leave of absence from the University of California
from 1942-1946, during which period he headed the plutonium work of the
Manhattan Project at the University
of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory.
He was co-discoverer of
plutonium and all further transuranium elements through element 102.
In addition to the discovery of transuranium elements, Dr. Seaborg and
his colleagues are responsible for the identification of more than 100
isotopes of elements throughout the Periodic Table. He is also author of
the actinide concept of heavy element electronic structure. In this
connection, Dr. Seaborg demonstrated that the heavy elements form a
"transition" series of actinide elements in a manner analogous
to the rare-earth series of lanthanide elements. The concept
demonstrated how the heavy elements fit into the Periodic Table and thus
demonstrated their relationships to the other elements.
The body of information assembled in Dr. Seaborg's laboratory has made
it possible to predict the radioactive characteristics of many isotopes
of elements still to be found. Under Dr. Seaborg's leadership, also,
whole new bodies of methodology and instrumentation have been developed
and have become a cornerstone of modern nuclear chemistry. Dr. Seaborg
is the author of approximately 200 scientific papers, including a number
of comprehensive reviews and compilations in scientific publications. He
is also author and co-author of several books on chemistry and the
elements.
Honours include: in 1947 named as one of America's 10 outstanding young
men by the U. S. Junior Chamber of Commerce; 1947 recipient of the
American Chemical Society's Award in Pure Chemistry; 1948 John Ericsson
Gold Medal by the American Society of Swedish Engineers; 1948 Nichols
Medal of the New York Section of the American Chemical Society; 1953
John Scott Award and Medal of the City of Philadelphia; 1957 Perkin
Medal of the American Section of the Society of Chemical Industry; 1959
Atomic Energy Commission's Enrico Fermi Award for his outstanding work
in the field of nuclear chemistry and for his leadership in scientific
and educational affairs; in 1962, named Swedish American of the Year by
Vasa Order of America, Stockholm; 1963 Franklin Medal of the Franklin
Institute, Philadelphia.
Dr. Seaborg is an Honorary Fellow of the Chemical Society of London and
of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He is a Fellow of the American
Institute of Chemists, the New York Academy of Sciences, the California
Academy of Sciences, the American Physical Society and the American
Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a Member of the
National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
the Royal Society of Arts of England, and the Royal Swedish Academy of
Engineering Sciences.
Honorary degrees awarded to Dr. Seaborg include Doctor of Science
degrees from the University of Denver,
1951; Gustavus Adolphus College, 1954;
Northwestern University, 1954;
University of Notre Dame, 1961; Ohio
State University, 1961; Florida State
University, 1961; University of Maryland, 1961; Temple
University, 1962; Tulane University, 1962; Drexel Institute of
Technology, 1962; Georgetown
University, 1962; University of the State of New York, 1962;
Mundelein College, 1963; and Trinity College, 1963; the degree of Doctor
of Laws from the University of Michigan, 1958; and University of
Massachusetts, 1963; the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from
Northern Michigan College, 1962; the degree of Doctor of Public Service
from George Washington University, 1962; and the degree of Doctor of
Public Administration from the University of Puget Sound, 1963.
In 1942, Dr. Seaborg married Helen L. Griggs, then secretary to the late
Dr. Ernest O. Lawrence (Nobel Laureate for Physics 1939). They have six
children: Peter (b. 1946), Lynne (b. 1947), David (b. 1949), Stephen (b.
1951), John Eric (b. 1954), and Dianne (b. 1959). His chief hobby is
golf, but he also follows other sports with interest. From 1953-1958 he
served as the University of California (Berkeley) Faculty Athletic
Representative.
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