Glenn T. Seaborg "Transuranium Elements: A Half Century" Speech

Glenn T. Seaborg (1912-1999) was an American chemist and Nobel Laureate. Born in Ishpeming, Michigan on April 19, 1912, Seaborg earned his B.A. in Chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles (1933) and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley (1937). After earning his Ph.D., he became an instructor at the University of California, Berkeley's Department of Chemistry in 1939, where he rose to the rank of Professor of Chemistry by 1945. During World War II, Seaborg was a key member of the Manhattan Project team working with Enrico Fermi and others. His assignment at the Manhattan Project was to learn how to isolate plutonium. Seaborg's theoretical development of the actinide concept led to a major overhaul of the classic Periodic Table design. After the war, Seaborg continued his work on transuranium elements, eventually discovering ten new elements. In 1951, with American physicist Edwin M. McMillin, he won a share of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their discoveries in the chemistry of transuranium elements. In addition to his chemistry research, Seaborg served as a top science advisor to a parade of United States Presidents, from Harry Truman to Bill Clinton. From 1961 to 1971, he served as Chairman of the United States Atomic Energy Commission. Glenn T. Seaborg passed away in Lafayette, California on February 25, 1999.