Seaborg, Glenn Theodore
Seaborg, Glenn Theodore
(sē`bôrg), 1912–99, American chemist, b. Ishpeming, Mich., grad. Univ. of California at Los Angeles, 1934, Ph.D. Univ. of California at Berkeley, 1937. In 1939, he began teaching at Berkeley, where he became professor of chemistry (1945) and chancellor of the university (1958). During World War II, he was associated with the Univ. of Chicago, where he worked on the development of the atomic bomb. After the war, Seaborg was named head of the nuclear chemistry division of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, later becoming director and then director emeritus of the laboratory. He served as chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission from 1961 to 1971.Seaborg codiscovered the elements plutoniumplutonium
, radioactive chemical element; symbol Pu; at. no. 94; mass no. of most stable isotope 244; m.p. 641°C;; b.p. 3,232°C;; sp. gr. 19.84 at 20°C;; valence +3, +4, +5, or +6.
..... Click the link for more information. (and its isotope Pu-239), americiumamericium
, artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Am; at. no. 95; mass no. of most stable isotope 243; m.p. about 1,175°C;; b.p. about 2,600°C;; sp. gr. 13.67 at 20°C;; valence +2, +3, +4, +5, or +6.
..... Click the link for more information. , curiumcurium
, artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Cm; at. no. 96; mass no. of most stable isotope 247; m.p. about 1,340°C;; b.p. 3,110°C;; sp. gr. 13.5 (calculated); valence +3, +4.
..... Click the link for more information. , berkeliumberkelium
[from Berkeley], artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Bk; at. no. 97; mass no. of most stable isotope 247; m.p. about 1,050°C;; b.p. about 2,590°C;; sp. gr. 14 (estimated); valence +3, +4.
..... Click the link for more information. , californiumcalifornium
[from California], artificially produced, radioactive metallic chemical element; symbol Cf; at. no. 98; mass no. of most stable isotope 251; m.p. about 900°C;; b.p. about 1,470°C;; density unknown; valence +3.
..... Click the link for more information. , einsteiniumeinsteinium
[for Albert Einstein], artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Es; at. no. 99; mass no. of most stable isotope 252; m.p. about 860°C;; b.p. and sp. gr. unknown; valence +2, +3.
..... Click the link for more information. , fermiumfermium
[for Enrico Fermi], artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Fm; at. no. 100; mass no. of most stable isotope 257; m.p. 1,527°C;; b.p. and sp. gr. unknown; valence +2, +3. Fermium is a member of Group 3 of the periodic table.
..... Click the link for more information. , mendeleviummendelevium
, artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Md; at. no. 101; mass no. of most stable isotope 258; m.p. 827°C;; b.p. and sp. gr. unknown; valence +1, +2, +3. Mendelevium is a metal of the actinide series in Group 3 of the periodic table.
..... Click the link for more information. , and nobeliumnobelium
, artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol No; at. no. 102; mass no. of most stable isotope 259; m.p. 827°C;; b.p. and density unknown; valence +2, +3. It is a metal of the actinide series in Group 3 of the periodic table.
..... Click the link for more information. . For discoveries concerning the chemistry of transuranium elements, he shared with Edwin M. McMillanMcMillan, Edwin Mattison,
1907–91, American physicist, b. Redondo Beach, Calif., grad. California Institute of Technology, 1928, Ph.D. Princeton, 1932. On the faculty of the Univ.
..... Click the link for more information. the 1951 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. For his discoveries of the transuranium elements and for his "leadership in the development of nuclear chemistry and atomic energy," Seaborg received the 1959 Enrico Fermi award. In 1997, the element with the atomic number 106 was named seaborgiumseaborgium
, artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Sg; at. no. 106; mass number of most stable isotope 271; m.p., b.p., sp. gr., and valence unknown. Situated in Group 6 of the periodic table, it is expected to have properties similar to those of tungsten.
..... Click the link for more information. in his honor, marking the first time an element was named for a living person. His writings include Nuclear Properties of the Heavy Elements (1964), Nuclear Milestones (1972), The Elements Beyond Uranium (1990), A Chemist in the White House: From the Manhattan Project to the End of the Cold War (1998), and The Transuranium People: The Inside Story (1999).
Seaborg, Glenn Theodore
Born Apr. 19, 1912, in Ishpeming, Mich. American physicist.
Seaborg graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1934. After receiving the Ph.D. degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1937, he joined the university’s research staff. He was appointed a professor there in 1945 and was chancellor from 1958 until 1961. Between 1942 and 1946, Seaborg worked on the industrial production of plutonium at the metallurgical laboratory of the University of Chicago. From 1954 to 1961 he was associate director of the Radiation Laboratory at Berkeley; he returned to this position in 1971. Between 1961 and 1971 he was chairman of the US Atomic Energy Commission.
Together with E. McMillan, Seaborg synthesized plutonium in 1940–41. With other scientists, he discovered americium (1944–45), curium (1944), berkelium (1949), californium (1950), einsteinium (1952), fermium (1953), and mendelevium (1955). In subsequent years, he worked on the synthesis of even heavier elements.
Seaborg received a Nobel Prize in 1951 with McMillan. He became a foreign member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in l971.
WORKS
The International Atom. [Washington, D.C., 1969.]In Russian translation:
Khimiia aktinidnykh elementov. Moscow, 1960. (With J. Katz.)
Transuranovye elementy. Moscow, 1959. (With E. K. Hyde.)
Elementy Vselennoi. Moscow, 1962. (With E. G. Valens.)
Chelovek i atom. Moscow, 1973.(With W. Corliss.)