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.

Career

In 1939 he became an instructor in chemistry at UC Berkeley, was promoted to professor in 1945, and served as chancellor from 1958 to 1961. (In an amusing quirk, his last name is an anagram of the popular Berkeley cheer, "Go Bears!")

Related Topics:
1939 - Chemistry - 1945 - Chancellor - 1958 - 1961

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He is credited for discovering and isolating plutonium, americium, curium, berkelium, and californium at Berkeley and, with Edwin McMillan, shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1951 for the creation of the first transuranium elements.

Related Topics:
Plutonium - Americium - Curium - Berkelium - Californium - Edwin McMillan - Nobel Prize in Chemistry - 1951

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In the same year in which he produced plutonium, 1941, he also discovered that the isotope U235 undergoes fission under appropriate conditions. He therefore was responsible for two different approaches to the development of nuclear weapons. At this time he was transferred to the Manhattan Project and was part of Enrico Fermi's team which achieved the first nuclear chain reaction in 1942.

Related Topics:
1941 - Nuclear weapon - Manhattan Project - Enrico Fermi - Nuclear chain reaction - 1942

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On April 19, 1942, Seaborg reached Chicago, and joined up with the chemistry group at the Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago, where Fermi and his group had already learned how to convert U238 to plutonium using a chain-reacting pile. Seaborg's role was to figure out how to extract the tiny bit of plutonium from the mass of uranium.

Related Topics:
April 19 - 1942 - Metallurgical Laboratory - University of Chicago - Plutonium - Uranium

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Seaborg was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1948.

Related Topics:
National Academy of Sciences - 1948

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Seaborg served as chairman of the United States Atomic Energy Commission from 1961 to 1971. In 1976, when the Swedish king visited the United States, Seaborg played a major role in welcoming the king.

Related Topics:
United States Atomic Energy Commission - 1961 - 1971 - 1976 - Swedish

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