Glenn T. Seaborg

Glenn Theodore Seaborg (April 19, 1912 – February 25, 1999) was an American chemist, who was prominent in the discovery and isolation of many transuranic elements (including plutonium, during the Manhattan Project), for which he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1951. He was later the chairman of the United States Atomic Energy Commission from 1961 until 1971.

A graduate student

As a graduate student in the 1930s doing wet chemistry research for his advisor Gilbert Newton Lewis, Seaborg devoured the text Applied Radiochemistry by Otto Hahn, of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry in Berlin. For several years, Seaborg conducted important research in artificial radioactivity using the Lawrence cyclotron at Cal Berkeley. He was excited to learn from others that nuclear fission was possible -- but also chagrined, as his own research might have led him to the same discovery.

Related Topics:
1930s - Gilbert Newton Lewis - Applied Radiochemistry - Otto Hahn - Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry - Berlin - Radioactivity - Cyclotron - Nuclear fission

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Seaborg also became expert in dealing with the great Berkeley physicist Robert Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer was so quick and knew so much, he had a habit of answering a junior man's question before it had even been stated. Often the question answered was more profound than the one asked, but of little practical help. Seaborg learned to state his questions to Oppenheimer very quickly and succinctly, and this habit of asking succinct questions stood Seaborg in good stead all his professional life.

Related Topics:
Physicist - Robert Oppenheimer

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