Glenn T. Seaborg, Ph.D. - Academy of Achievement

<!doctype html> <html lang="en-US" prefix="og: http://ogp.me/ns#"> <head><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("https://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://www.achievement.org:80/achiever/glenn-t-seaborg-ph-d/","20170621212712","https://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1498080432"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta http-equiv="x-ua-compatible" content="ie=edge"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="57x57" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-57x57.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="114x114" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-114x114.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="72x72" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-72x72.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="144x144" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-144x144.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="60x60" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-60x60.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="120x120" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-120x120.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="76x76" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-76x76.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="152x152" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-152x152.png"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-196x196.png" sizes="196x196"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-96x96.png" sizes="96x96"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-32x32.png" sizes="32x32"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-16x16.png" sizes="16x16"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-128.png" sizes="128x128"/> <meta name="application-name" content="Academy of Achievement"/> <meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#000000"/> <meta name="msapplication-TileImage" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-144x144.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-square70x70logo" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-70x70.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-square150x150logo" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-150x150.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-wide310x150logo" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-310x150.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-square310x310logo" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-310x310.png"/> <link href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712cs_/https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Source+Sans+Pro:400,600,400italic,600italic,700,700italic" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <title>Glenn T. Seaborg, Ph.D. - Academy of Achievement</title>  <meta name="description" content="In 1941, with the world at war, brilliant physicists on both sides of the Atlantic struggled to produce an unimaginably powerful weapon that would tip the scales of victory, to the Axis or to the Allies. In Berkeley, California, a young chemist named Glenn Seaborg synthesized and isolated a new element unknown in nature -- plutonium -- that made it possible for the United States to produce the first atomic bomb, and bring an end to World War II. After the war, Glenn Seaborg re-drew the periodic table of elements, a matrix as essential to the study of chemistry as the multiplication table is to mathematics. Seaborg discovered ten new elements, more than any scientist in history, and synthesized hundreds of radioactive isotopes, with applications in everything from the treatment of cancer to the common household smoke detector. Over the course of a career that included service as Chancellor of the University of California and Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, he advised ten U.S. presidents, from Harry S. Truman to Bill Clinton, and drew the blueprint for America's long supremacy in scientific research. Although his youthful discoveries assured his country's victory in war, he devoted his own efforts for decades to nuclear disarmament and the peaceful use of atomic power."/> <meta name="robots" content="noodp"/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/glenn-t-seaborg-ph-d/"/> <meta property="og:locale" content="en_US"/> <meta property="og:type" content="article"/> <meta property="og:title" content="Glenn T. Seaborg, Ph.D. - Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="og:description" content="<p class="inputTextFirst">In 1941, with the world at war, brilliant physicists on both sides of the Atlantic struggled to produce an unimaginably powerful weapon that would tip the scales of victory, to the Axis or to the Allies. In Berkeley, California, a young chemist named Glenn Seaborg synthesized and isolated a new element unknown in nature -- plutonium -- that made it possible for the United States to produce the first atomic bomb, and bring an end to World War II.</p> <p class="inputText">After the war, Glenn Seaborg re-drew the periodic table of elements, a matrix as essential to the study of chemistry as the multiplication table is to mathematics. Seaborg discovered ten new elements, more than any scientist in history, and synthesized hundreds of radioactive isotopes, with applications in everything from the treatment of cancer to the common household smoke detector.</p> <p class="inputText">Over the course of a career that included service as Chancellor of the University of California and Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, he advised ten U.S. presidents, from Harry S. Truman to Bill Clinton, and drew the blueprint for America's long supremacy in scientific research. Although his youthful discoveries assured his country's victory in war, he devoted his own efforts for decades to nuclear disarmament and the peaceful use of atomic power.</p>"/> <meta property="og:url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/glenn-t-seaborg-ph-d/"/> <meta property="og:site_name" content="Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/seaborg-oprah-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg"/> <meta property="og:image:width" content="2800"/> <meta property="og:image:height" content="1120"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary"/> <meta name="twitter:description" content="<p class="inputTextFirst">In 1941, with the world at war, brilliant physicists on both sides of the Atlantic struggled to produce an unimaginably powerful weapon that would tip the scales of victory, to the Axis or to the Allies. In Berkeley, California, a young chemist named Glenn Seaborg synthesized and isolated a new element unknown in nature -- plutonium -- that made it possible for the United States to produce the first atomic bomb, and bring an end to World War II.</p> <p class="inputText">After the war, Glenn Seaborg re-drew the periodic table of elements, a matrix as essential to the study of chemistry as the multiplication table is to mathematics. Seaborg discovered ten new elements, more than any scientist in history, and synthesized hundreds of radioactive isotopes, with applications in everything from the treatment of cancer to the common household smoke detector.</p> <p class="inputText">Over the course of a career that included service as Chancellor of the University of California and Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, he advised ten U.S. presidents, from Harry S. Truman to Bill Clinton, and drew the blueprint for America's long supremacy in scientific research. Although his youthful discoveries assured his country's victory in war, he devoted his own efforts for decades to nuclear disarmament and the peaceful use of atomic power.</p>"/> <meta name="twitter:title" content="Glenn T. 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data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/seaborg-oprah-Feature-Image-2800x1120-380x152.jpg [(max-width:544px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/03/seaborg-oprah-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg [(max-width:992px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/03/seaborg-oprah-Feature-Image-2800x1120-1400x560.jpg"></div> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <figcaption class="feature-area__text ratio-container__text container"> <div class="feature-area__text-inner text-white"> <h2 class="serif-8 feature-area__text-subhead back"><a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever">All achievers</a></h2> <h1 class="serif-1 entry-title feature-area__text-headline">Glenn T. Seaborg, Ph.D.</h1> <h5 class="sans-6 feature-area__blurb">Discoverer of Plutonium</h5> </div> </figcaption> </div> </div> </figure> </header> </div>  <nav class="in-page-nav row fixedsticky"> <ul class="nav text-xs-center clearfix" role="tablist"> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link active" data-toggle="tab" href="#biography" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Biography">Biography</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#profile" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Profile">Profile</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#interview" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Interview">Interview</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#gallery" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Gallery">Gallery</a> </li> </ul> </nav> <article class="post-3144 achiever type-achiever status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry careers-chemist"> <div class="entry-content container clearfix">  <div class="tab-content"> <div class="tab-pane fade in active" id="biography" role="tabpanel"> <section class="achiever--biography"> <div class="row"> <header class="editorial-article__header col-md-8 col-md-offset-2 text-xs-center"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> <h3 class="serif-3 quote-marks">There are young people today who feel that we shouldn't have developed the atomic bomb, that it was a mistake. Through no fault of their own, they don't have this sense of history. They didn't live through this most terrifying period when we thought we were losing the race with Adolf Hitler.</h3> </header> </div> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar clearfix"> <h2 class="serif-3 p-b-1">Nobel Prize in Chemistry</h2> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> April 19, 1912 </dd> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Death</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> February 25, 1999 </dd> </div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_26312" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption alignright"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-26312 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/XBD9903-00377-22.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-26312 lazyload" alt="Easter 1941: Glenn Seaborg, enlisted for war work, standing in front of a plane on a runway in Washington, D.C." width="1024" height="676" data-sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" data-srcset="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/XBD9903-00377-22.jpg 1024w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/XBD9903-00377-22-380x251.jpg 380w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/XBD9903-00377-22-760x502.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/XBD9903-00377-22.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Easter 1941: Dr. Glenn Seaborg, enlisted for war work, standing in front of plane on runway in Washington, D.C.</figcaption></figure><p>Glenn Theodore Seaborg was born in Ishpeming, Michigan, a small community dominated by a single industry, iron mining. Three generations of Seaborg men before him — Americans of Swedish descent — worked as machinists. His mother was a more recent immigrant from rural Sweden, and young Glenn spoke Swedish before he learned English. The family owned their house, but the land under their feet belonged to the iron company, and opportunities for advancement were severely limited. Mrs. Seaborg wanted something better for her son, and at her insistence, the family moved to Southern California when he was ten years old. They settled in what is now the city of South Gate, in Los Angeles County. The town had no high school, so Glenn attended David Star Jordan High School in nearby Watts. An imaginative teacher ignited young Seaborg’s interest in science. He graduated at the top of his class and won admission to the University of California, Los Angeles. Although he was fascinated by physics, a degree in chemistry seemed more useful in the straitened economy of the Depression. He paid for his education by working as a longshoreman and boxing fruit in a packing house, until he was qualified to work as a laboratory assistant.</p> <figure id="attachment_26308" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-26308 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/seaborg_glenn_b10.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-26308 lazyload" alt="Glenn Seaborg in 1951, with the periodic table of elements. (AIP Emilio Segre Visual Archives)" width="2280" height="1822" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/seaborg_glenn_b10.jpg 2280w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/seaborg_glenn_b10-380x304.jpg 380w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/seaborg_glenn_b10-760x607.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/seaborg_glenn_b10.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">April 1946: Nuclear alchemist Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg standing in front of the periodic table of elements in his lab.</figcaption></figure><p>Seaborg entered graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1934. Berkeley in the ’30s was a hotbed of activity in the new field of atomic research, home to such luminaries as the imperious Robert Oppenheimer, and Ernest Lawrence, inventor of the atom-smashing cyclotron. Seaborg, a shy youngster from a working class family, found himself among the most brilliant scientific minds in the country. He counted on one trait to distinguish himself, his enormous capacity for work. He spent his days assisting the renowned chemist Gilbert M. Lewis, and his evenings in the UC Radiation Laboratory (now known as Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), a facility full of physicists where his skills as a chemist set Seaborg apart. He was awarded his Ph.D. in 1937, and after two more years of assisting in the laboratories, joined the faculty in 1939.</p> <p>That same year, the news that nuclear fission had been achieved in Germany galvanized the field of atomic research. With war already raging in Europe and Asia, the federal government took an increasing interest in nuclear research. Lawrence’s cyclotron had made possible the synthesis and isolation of new chemical elements, with an atomic number higher than that of uranium (element 92). Seaborg created numerous isotopes, variations on existing elements, possessing the same number of protons (atomic number) but different numbers of neutrons, giving them a different atomic mass. Most of these isotopes had no immediate practical application, but when a medical researcher requested a variant on iodine for the study of thyroid metabolism, Seaborg created a new isotope to order. The result, Iodine-131, is still commonly used in the treatment of thyroid disease. Its use prolonged the life of Seaborg’s own mother for many years. Other isotopes of Seaborg’s creation have proved useful in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.</p> <figure id="attachment_26279" style="width: 1411px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26279 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Hanford_B_Reactor.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26279 size-full lazyload" alt="The B Reactor at the Hanford site construction — the first plutonium-production reactor." width="1411" height="1106" data-sizes="(max-width: 1411px) 100vw, 1411px" data-srcset="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Hanford_B_Reactor.jpg 1411w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Hanford_B_Reactor-380x298.jpg 380w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Hanford_B_Reactor-760x596.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Hanford_B_Reactor.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">The B Reactor at the Hanford Site near Richland, Washington, during the construction of the first large-scale nuclear reactor ever built. It was commissioned to produce plutonium-239 as part of the Manhattan Project, the United States nuclear weapons development program during World War II.  The reactor was completed in 1944.</figcaption></figure><p>In 1941, Seaborg led the research team that isolated a completely new element, plutonium (atomic number 94). Seaborg realized it could provide explosive fuel for a massively destructive weapon, and his discovery was kept secret from the public. He also participated in the isolation of isotopes of uranium, and discovered that uranium-235 was capable of fission, a second means of producing an atomic bomb.</p> <p>With the entry of the United States into World War II, the federal government initiated a massive effort, the Manhattan Project, to create the first nuclear weapon. German science appeared to have an insurmountable head start, and American scientists worked under intense pressure, with separate parts of the project carried out at different locations, each barely aware of the others’ work. Seaborg was tapped to head one section of the project, to be carried out at the University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory.</p> <figure id="attachment_26290" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26290 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Nagasakibomb.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26290 size-full lazyload" alt="August 9, 1945: Mushroom cloud above Nagasaki, Japan after the atomic bombing. The atomic bomb dropped had a plutonium core. (Charles Levy from one of the B-29 Superfortresses used in the attack. National Archives image.) " width="2280" height="2724" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Nagasakibomb.jpg 2280w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Nagasakibomb-318x380.jpg 318w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Nagasakibomb-636x760.jpg 636w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Nagasakibomb.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">August 9, 1945: Mushroom cloud above Nagasaki, Japan after the atomic bombing. The atomic bomb dropped had a plutonium core. (Charles Levy from one of the B-29 Superfortresses used in the attack. National Archives.)</figcaption></figure><p>To date, plutonium had only been produced in microscopic quantities. Seaborg was tasked with creating an automated process to produce the newly discovered element in sufficient quantities to be used in nuclear weapons. Seaborg and his team labored 12 hours a day, six days a week, until Seaborg was hospitalized for exhaustion. After three years of intense work, Seaborg and his team had produced just enough plutonium for two bombs, but these were enough to end the most destructive war in human history.</p> <p>After the successful testing of the first atom bomb in Alamogordo, New Mexico in 1945, Seaborg joined six other Manhattan Project scientists in signing a letter to President Harry S. Truman, called the Franck Report. In it, they recommended that Japanese observers be invited to witness an atom bomb test, so that Japan would have the opportunity to surrender before the bomb was used on human population centers. The Franck Report was rejected, and a uranium-235 device was detonated over Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. The Japanese did not surrender until a plutonium bomb was dropped on Nagasaki three days later.</p> <figure id="attachment_26304" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26304 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U10576INP.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26304 size-full lazyload" alt="1947: The General Advisory Committee to the United States Atomic Energy Commission meets for the first time at the War Department in Washington, D.C. From left to right (seated): Professor Enrico Fermi, University of Chicago; Professor Glenn Seaborg, University of California; Hartley Rowe, Vice President, United Fruit Company; James B. Conant, President, Harvard University; (standing in back): Hood Worthington, chemical engineer, E.I. Dupont and Company; Cyril Stanley Smith, University of Chicago; and Professor I. I. Rabi, Columbia University. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)" width="2280" height="1790" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U10576INP.jpg 2280w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U10576INP-380x298.jpg 380w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U10576INP-760x597.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U10576INP.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">1947: The General Advisory Committee to the United States Atomic Energy Commission meets for the first time at the War Department in Washington, D.C. From left to right (seated): Professor Enrico Fermi, University of Chicago; Professor Glenn Seaborg, University of California; Hartley Rowe, Vice President, United Fruit Company; James B. Conant, President, Harvard University; (standing in back): Hood Worthington, chemical engineer, E.I. Dupont and Company; Cyril Stanley Smith, University of Chicago; and Professor Isidor Isaac Rabi, Columbia University. (Corbis)</figcaption></figure><p>With the coming of peace, President Truman appointed Seaborg to the General Advisory Committee of the newly formed Atomic Energy Commission. He was the only member of the committee to recommend development of the hydrogen bomb, a recommendation he made reluctantly, knowing that the Soviet Union would proceed with developing this weapon in any event.</p> <p>During his work in Chicago, Seaborg discovered two new chemical elements, americium (atomic number 95) and curium (number 96). He was successful in patenting both elements. To date, they are the only chemical elements ever patented. Americium is today the effective component of the common household smoke detector.</p> <figure id="attachment_26301" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26301 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-BE042829.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26301 size-full lazyload" alt="1951: Glenn T. Seaborg with the periodic table of elements he revised. In 1940, Seaborg, in collaboration with Edwin McMillan, Joseph Kennedy, and Arthur Wahl, isolated plutonium (element 94). In 1941, he isolated Uranium-233 and established thorium's nuclear fuel potential. Between 1944 and 1958, Seaborg identified eight elements – americium (95), curium (96), berkelium (97), californium (98), einsteinium (99), fermium (100), mendelevium (101), and nobelium (102). Element 106, seaborgium, bears his name. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)" width="2280" height="2862" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-BE042829.jpg 2280w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-BE042829-303x380.jpg 303w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-BE042829-605x760.jpg 605w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-BE042829.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">1951: Glenn T. Seaborg with the periodic table of elements he revised. In 1940, Seaborg, in collaboration with Edwin McMillan, Joseph Kennedy, and Arthur Wahl, isolated plutonium (element 94). In 1941, he isolated Uranium-233 and established thorium’s nuclear fuel potential. Between 1944 and 1958, Seaborg identified eight elements – americium (95), curium (96), berkelium (97), californium (98), einsteinium (99), fermium (100), mendelevium (101), and nobelium (102). Element 106, seaborgium, bears his name. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)</figcaption></figure><p>On returning to Berkeley after the war, Seaborg became Director of the Division of Nuclear Chemistry of the Radiation Laboratory, where he led the discovery of eight new elements: berkelium, californium, einsteinium, fermium, mendelevium and nobelium (elements 97 through 102). This increased the number of known elements by 10 percent, more elements than had been discovered by any previous person in history.</p> <p>The discovery of elements by nuclear researchers is actually the synthesis and identification of elements which had not previously existed in nature. Separating the atoms of the new elements from the many other atoms that surround them is only possible if the properties of the new element can be predicted accurately. The challenge for the pioneering nuclear researchers was to devise processes which they knew would result in the creation of elements with specific properties. Seaborg succeeded in this by rethinking the relationship of chemical elements, as represented in the periodic table.</p> <figure id="attachment_26297" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26297 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-017.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26297 size-full lazyload" alt="1951: Glenn T. Seaborg and his colleague, Edwin M. McMillan. They shared the year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry. (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)" width="2280" height="2766" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-017.jpg 2280w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-017-313x380.jpg 313w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-017-626x760.jpg 626w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-017.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">1951: Glenn T. Seaborg and his colleague, Edwin M. McMillan. They shared that year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry.</figcaption></figure><p>Seaborg proposed a radical rearrangement of the periodic table, a design unchanged since the table was first introduced by the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleyev in 1869. Seaborg based his design on his “actinide concept,” named for the series of radioactive elements (89-103) that include uranium and the new transuranium elements he and his colleagues had produced at Berkeley and Chicago. Colleagues warned Seaborg that challenging a universally accepted view of the relationship of the elements was too radical a break with scientific orthodoxy to be accepted by the world scientific community. Some said it would mean the end of his career, but Seaborg was convinced he was right, and his new table was soon adopted by chemists around the world.</p> <p>His achievements were honored with the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1951. At 39, Seaborg was one of the youngest persons ever to receive the award. The trip to Sweden to accept the honor was exceptionally gratifying for Seaborg. The attendant publicity enabled him to highlight the contribution of Swedish Americans to American society as a whole.</p> <figure id="attachment_26292" style="width: 1547px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26292 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/NNSA-NSO-403.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26292 size-full lazyload" alt="Glenn T. Seaborg during Operation Plumbbob. Operation Plumbbob was a series of nuclear tests conducted between May 28 and October 7, 1957, at the Nevada Test Site, following Project 57, and preceding Project 58/58A. It was the biggest, longest, and most controversial test series in the continental United States. The operation consisted of 29 explosions, of which only two did not produce any nuclear yield. Twenty-one laboratories and government agencies were involved. While most Operation Plumbbob tests contributed to the development of warheads for intercontinental and intermediate range missiles, they also tested air defense and anti-submarine warheads with smaller yields. They included forty-three military effects tests on civil and military structures, radiation and bio-medical studies, and aircraft structural tests. Operation Plumbbob had the tallest tower tests to date in the U.S. nuclear testing program, as well as high-altitude balloon tests. One nuclear test involved the largest troop maneuver ever associated with U.S. nuclear testing." width="1547" height="1185" data-sizes="(max-width: 1547px) 100vw, 1547px" data-srcset="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/NNSA-NSO-403.jpg 1547w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/NNSA-NSO-403-380x291.jpg 380w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/NNSA-NSO-403-760x582.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/NNSA-NSO-403.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg during Operation Plumbbob. Operation Plumbbob was a series of nuclear tests conducted between May 28 and October 7, 1957, at the Nevada Test Site. It was the biggest, longest, and most controversial test series in the continental United States. The operation consisted of 29 explosions, of which only two did not produce any nuclear yield. Twenty-one laboratories and government agencies were involved. While most Operation Plumbbob tests contributed to the development of warheads for intercontinental and intermediate range missiles, they also tested air defense and anti-submarine warheads with smaller yields. They included forty-three military effects tests on civil and military structures, radiation and bio-medical studies, and aircraft structural tests. Operation Plumbbob had the tallest tower in the U.S. nuclear testing program, as well as high-altitude balloon tests. One nuclear test had the largest troop maneuver associated with U.S. nuclear testing.</figcaption></figure><p>In addition to his research, Seaborg was active in all aspects of university life at Berkeley. In the 1950s, he served as the faculty representative to the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. When a recruiting scandal threw the conference into chaos, Seaborg assisted in drafting the rules for a new association, known today as the Pac Ten. Seaborg’s effort was instrumental in rebuilding the conference and restoring standards of integrity to collegiate sport.</p> <p>In 1958, he was appointed Chancellor of the University; he was only the second individual to hold the post. It was a source of particular pride to him that his tenure as Chancellor was one in which Berkeley’s athletic teams enjoyed an unprecedented streak of victories, winning titles in basketball, football and baseball. These were also significant years of expansion for the Berkeley campus, with the construction of over a dozen major new buildings, and the creation of new research institutes and laboratory facilities. Seaborg relaxed old restrictions on campus political activity, setting the stage for the flowering of student activism in the 1960s.</p> <figure id="attachment_26285" style="width: 1000px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26285 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/JFKWHP-KN-C20687.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26285 size-full lazyload" alt="March 1962: President John F. Kennedy visits the Lawrence Berkeley Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. L-R: Director of the Lawrence Livermore Radiation Laboratory, Dr. John S. Foster, Jr.; Director of the Lawrence Berkeley Radiation Laboratory, Dr. Edwin M. McMillan; Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Glenn T. Seaborg; President Kennedy; co-founder of the Lawrence Livermore Radiation Laboratory, Dr. Edward Teller. Berkeley, California. (Robert Knudsen. White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston)" width="1000" height="979" data-sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" data-srcset="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/JFKWHP-KN-C20687.jpg 1000w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/JFKWHP-KN-C20687-380x372.jpg 380w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/JFKWHP-KN-C20687-760x744.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/JFKWHP-KN-C20687.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">March 1962: President John F. Kennedy visits the Lawrence Berkeley Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley: Director of the Lawrence Berkeley Radiation Laboratory, Dr. Edwin M. McMillan; Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Glenn T. Seaborg; President Kennedy; co-founder of the Lawrence Livermore Radiation Laboratory, Dr. Edward Teller; Director of the Lawrence Livermore Radiation Laboratory, Dr. John S. Foster, Jr. (Robert Knudsen. White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum)</figcaption></figure><p>Seaborg was called on to advise the government again at the end of the ’50s, chairing a panel of President Dwight Eisenhower’s Science Advisory Committee to study the integration of basic research with graduate science education. The Seaborg Report, as the panel’s findings were known, provided the blueprint for American supremacy in basic research for the next 25 years. Beginning in the 1980s, government funding for basic research declined dramatically, and Seaborg was a vocal, if unheeded, advocate for the importance of pure research to his country’s security and prosperity.</p> <figure id="attachment_26299" style="width: 2258px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26299 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-019.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26299 size-full lazyload" alt="1964: The Seaborg family in their Washington, D.C. home. From left to right: Lynne Seaborg, Dianne Seaborg, Peter Seaborg, David Seaborg, Stephen Seaborg (in front of David), Eric Seaborg, Glenn T. Seaborg, and Helen L. Seaborg. (Photo by Fabian Bachrach, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)" width="2258" height="3000" data-sizes="(max-width: 2258px) 100vw, 2258px" data-srcset="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-019.jpg 2258w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-019-286x380.jpg 286w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-019-572x760.jpg 572w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-019.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">1964: The Seaborg family in their Washington, D.C. home. From left to right: Lynne Seaborg, Dianne Seaborg, Peter Seaborg, David Seaborg, Stephen Seaborg (in front of David), Eric Seaborg, Glenn T. Seaborg, and Helen Seaborg.</figcaption></figure><p>In 1961, the newly elected President John F. Kennedy asked Seaborg to serve as Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, the agency that oversaw all uses of atomic energy in the United States: military, scientific, industrial and medical. Seaborg enjoyed a warm relationship with the new president and enthusiastically supported his efforts to negotiate a nuclear test ban treaty with the Soviets. Seaborg served on the committee that drafted the American position in the negotiations. In the end, Kennedy secured Soviet agreement to a ban on the open-air testing of nuclear weapons, and the treaty was ratified by the U.S. Senate, despite strenuous political resistance in the United States. Seaborg later concluded that the U.S., through excessive caution, had missed an opportunity to secure a ban on all further nuclear weapon tests, and that the expense and danger of the subsequent arms race could have been avoided.</p> <figure id="attachment_26306" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26306 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U1456203.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26306 size-full lazyload" alt="1965: At a White House ceremony, AEC Chairman Glenn Seaborg applauds as President Lyndon B. Johnson presents the Enrico Fermi Award to Vice Admiral Hyman Rickover for his leadership in the development of the nuclear submarine. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)" width="2280" height="1515" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U1456203.jpg 2280w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U1456203-380x253.jpg 380w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U1456203-760x505.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U1456203.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">1965: At a White House ceremony, Chairman Glenn Seaborg applauds as President Lyndon B. Johnson presents the Enrico Fermi Award to Vice Admiral Hyman Rickover for leadership in development of the nuclear submarine.</figcaption></figure><p>After the death of President Kennedy in 1963, Seaborg enjoyed an even closer relationship with Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon B. Johnson. During Johnson’s presidency a multilateral non-proliferation treaty was concluded, restricting the spread of nuclear weapons. Seaborg presided over a substantial growth in the civilian use of nuclear power. When he took office, there were only two nuclear power plants in operation in the United States. By the time he left, 70 were online or under construction. Seaborg had a more difficult relationship with President Richard Nixon and was glad to return to Berkeley when his term as AEC Chairman expired in 1971. He continued to advise American presidents on scientific matters in a number of capacities, and to urge negotiation of a comprehensive ban on the testing of nuclear weapons.</p> <figure id="attachment_26303" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26303 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-RR029586.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26303 size-full lazyload" alt="In 1980, Glenn Seaborg displays one of the cigar boxes in which he and his colleagues stored the first samples of plutonium-239. The cigar boxes were provided by his fellow chemist, G. N. Lewis. (© Roger Ressmeyer/CORBIS)" width="2280" height="1531" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-RR029586.jpg 2280w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-RR029586-380x255.jpg 380w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-RR029586-760x510.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-RR029586.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">In 1980, Glenn Seaborg displays one of the cigar boxes in which he and his colleagues stored the first samples of plutonium-239. The cigar boxes were provided by his fellow chemist, G. N. Lewis. (© Roger Ressmeyer/CORBIS)</figcaption></figure><p>In the 1970s, Seaborg served as President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Chemical Society. In 1980, he achieved the cherished dream of the medieval alchemists, synthesizing gold from a less valued element, bismuth. Seaborg was well aware that this was a purely scientific exercise, as the expense of the process far exceeded the market value of the gold produced.</p> <figure id="attachment_35858" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-35858 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-TombaughSeaborgGoldenPlate.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-35858 lazyload" alt="Awards Council member Dr. Glenn Seaborg presents the Academy's Golden Plate Award to Clyde W. Tombaugh." width="2280" height="1629" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-TombaughSeaborgGoldenPlate.jpg 2280w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-TombaughSeaborgGoldenPlate-380x272.jpg 380w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-TombaughSeaborgGoldenPlate-760x543.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-TombaughSeaborgGoldenPlate.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Awards Council member Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg presents the Academy’s Golden Plate Award to Clyde W. Tombaugh, eminent astronomer who discovered Pluto, at 1991 American Academy of Achievement Summit in New York City.</figcaption></figure><p>When President Ronald Reagan appointed Seaborg to a National Commission on Excellence in Education, Seaborg found the first draft of the commission’s findings hopelessly timid and understated. He threatened to publish a dissenting opinion if the document was not re-written in stronger terms. At Seaborg’s insistence, the finished paper began with the words, “We are a nation at risk.” This phrase gave the influential study the name by which it is commonly known. The report was praised by the president, but to Seaborg’s disappointment, no serious federal commitment resulted, and American science education continued to decline. Seaborg was also unhappy with the security procedures of the Reagan White House, particularly when he was told that his personal journals from the AEC years required security review, after they had been de-classified for over a decade.</p> <figure id="attachment_28321" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-28321 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/WP-Seaborg-Glenn-and-Linowitz-Sol-1.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-28321 size-full lazyload" alt="wp-seaborg-glenn-and-linowitz-sol" width="2280" height="1498" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/WP-Seaborg-Glenn-and-Linowitz-Sol-1.jpg 2280w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/WP-Seaborg-Glenn-and-Linowitz-Sol-1-380x250.jpg 380w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/WP-Seaborg-Glenn-and-Linowitz-Sol-1-760x499.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/WP-Seaborg-Glenn-and-Linowitz-Sol-1.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Three members of the American Academy of Achievement during the 1991 “Salute to Excellence” luncheon at the United Nations in New York City: Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg, Ambassador Sol M. Linowitz and Walter H. Shorenstein.</figcaption></figure><p>Seaborg had more satisfying experiences in the laboratory. His remaining years at Berkeley culminated in the discovery of chemical element 106, in 1994. The element was named seaborgium in his honor, a designation confirmed in 1997. He founded the Lawrence Hall of Science on the Berkeley campus, and served as its Chairman, as well as Associate Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Over the course of his career, he wrote 50 books and more than 500 scholarly articles. To the end of his life, he followed the latest developments in atomic research, and embraced new communications technology to advocate for science education and for arms control on his own website.</p> <figure id="attachment_26302" style="width: 1919px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26302 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-IHI35547.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26302 size-full lazyload" alt="Glenn Seaborg in the 1990s, with the periodic table of elements. He is pointing to the element seaborgium, named in his honor. (© Roger Ressmeyer/CORBIS)" width="1919" height="1926" data-sizes="(max-width: 1919px) 100vw, 1919px" data-srcset="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-IHI35547.jpg 1919w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-IHI35547-190x190.jpg 190w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-IHI35547-380x380.jpg 380w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-IHI35547-757x760.jpg 757w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-IHI35547.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Glenn Seaborg with the periodic table of elements. He is pointing to the element seaborgium, named in his honor.</figcaption></figure><p>Glenn Seaborg and his wife, Helen, had six children. He died at home in Lafayette, California in 1999, two months short of his 87th birthday. His autobiography, <em>Adventures in the Atomic Age</em>, co-written with his son Eric, was published posthumously in 2001.</p></body></html> <div class="clearfix"> </div> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane fade" id="profile" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <header class="editorial-article__header"> <figure class="text-xs-center"> <img class="inductee-badge" src="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/inducted-badge@2x.png" alt="Inducted Badge" width="120" height="120"/> <figcaption class="serif-3 text-brand-primary"> Inducted in 1972 </figcaption> </figure> </header> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <dl class="clearfix m-b-0"> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Career</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> <div><a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/#filter=.chemist">Chemist</a></div> </dd> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> April 19, 1912 </dd> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Death</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> February 25, 1999 </dd> </div> </dl> </aside> <article class="col-md-8 editorial-article clearfix"> <p class="inputTextFirst">In 1941, with the world at war, brilliant physicists on both sides of the Atlantic struggled to produce an unimaginably powerful weapon that would tip the scales of victory, to the Axis or to the Allies. In Berkeley, California, a young chemist named Glenn Seaborg synthesized and isolated a new element unknown in nature — plutonium — that made it possible for the United States to produce the first atomic bomb, and bring an end to World War II.</p> <p class="inputText">After the war, Glenn Seaborg re-drew the periodic table of elements, a matrix as essential to the study of chemistry as the multiplication table is to mathematics. Seaborg discovered ten new elements, more than any scientist in history, and synthesized hundreds of radioactive isotopes, with applications in everything from the treatment of cancer to the common household smoke detector.</p> <p class="inputText">Over the course of a career that included service as Chancellor of the University of California and Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, he advised ten U.S. presidents, from Harry S. Truman to Bill Clinton, and drew the blueprint for America’s long supremacy in scientific research. Although his youthful discoveries assured his country’s victory in war, he devoted his own efforts for decades to nuclear disarmament and the peaceful use of atomic power.</p> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane fade" id="interview" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <div class="col-md-12 interview-feature-video"> <figure> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/keO0rf5Szp8?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-1990-Upscale-MasterEdit.01_28_49_22.Still009-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-1990-Upscale-MasterEdit.01_28_49_22.Still009-760x428.jpg"></div> <div class="video-tag sans-4"> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> <div class="video-tag__text">Watch full interview</div> </div> </div> </figure> </div> <header class="col-md-12 text-xs-center m-b-2"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> </header> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <h2 class="serif-3 achiever--biography-subtitle">Nobel Prize in Chemistry</h2> <div class="sans-2">Berkeley, California</div> <div class="sans-2">September 21, 1990</div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8">   <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>We want to talk about the discovery of plutonium. At the time of the discovery, did you know what you were trying to accomplish?</strong></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/TbK9q-2f_MA?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-1990-Upscale-MasterEdit.01_34_10_02.Still012-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-1990-Upscale-MasterEdit.01_34_10_02.Still012-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes. Ed McMillan had started it, but he was called away for war work on radar at MIT. After I asked my graduate student, Arthur Wahl, to become very expert in the chemistry of element 93, which had been discovered by McMillan and Abelson but which work had not led to the discovery of element 94, we made our first deuteron bombardment of uranium on December 14, 1940, and then the chemical separations were made and an alpha particle emitting a daughter of element 93 was found. We suspected that was due to element 94, and on February 23, 1941 we were able to prove through chemical techniques that the alpha emitter was due to the new element with the atomic number 94. It was in Gilman Hall, Room 307. It was a stormy night. Art Wahl, my first graduate student, was performing the oxidation experiment, and it was just clear that we were able to oxidize this new alpha particle emitter for the first time under conditions that no other element would be oxidized in that way. So that this led to the discovery and that was exciting.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_26276" style="width: 1496px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26276 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/1-1025-Argonne.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26276 size-full lazyload" alt="Glenn Seaborg (Photo courtesy of Argonne National Laboratory)" width="1496" height="2100" data-sizes="(max-width: 1496px) 100vw, 1496px" data-srcset="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/1-1025-Argonne.jpg 1496w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/1-1025-Argonne-271x380.jpg 271w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/1-1025-Argonne-541x760.jpg 541w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/1-1025-Argonne.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">February 17, 1941: Nobel laureate Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg, on the Berkeley campus at the University of California.</figcaption></figure><p><strong>Plutonium was something that had such a huge impact on the world and on your work for years to come. You knew what you were looking for; you were just trying to figure out a way to do it. What was the feeling when you realized that you had reached it?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I would say just one of satisfaction.</p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/Tq2sBP2tZSk?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-1990-Upscale-MasterEdit.01_52_11_26.Still011-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-1990-Upscale-MasterEdit.01_52_11_26.Still011-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>I think that where we first knew it was when we were trying to identify the atomic number of the next two elements, those with the atomic number 95 and 96 — remember neptunium was 93, plutonium was 94 — and were not succeeding. Then I got this idea of the actinide concept. We applied those new chemical concepts then, and then we began to detect the isotopes of the next two elements. That was a moment of excitement. That was probably one of the most exciting moments of my life.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><p><strong>At the time, did you turn around and shake hands with people? Did you decide to go out and have a drink? Did you jump up and down?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: No, nothing like that. Of course it doesn’t happen in the course of a few minutes. It’s sort of a will-o-the-wisp thing. We saw it and then it disappeared. Then we saw it again, and then it disappeared, and then finally we saw it, and we could confirm it. It went on for many days, so there was never one moment where you would stop and celebrate that way. But it was exciting to have this concept verified this way, and for the first time to see these alpha particles in the chemical fraction that you would predict would contain them on the basis of the actinide concept. You make the chemical separation, then you put the final fraction on a little plate — usually a platinum plate — and then you put that into a counter. Then you hear the clicks of the counter as the counts come in, or see them on an oscillograph or something like that. That’s what I mean by seeing it. The actual observation of the radioactive decay. Of course you don’t see anything. We just talk that way. You don’t see the alpha particles but you see their effect on an instrument and then you just say loosely, “We saw them.”</p> <figure id="attachment_26311" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26311 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/XBD9704-01422.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26311 size-full lazyload" alt="1946: Ernest Lawrence, Glenn T. Seaborg, and J. Robert Oppenheimer at the controls to the magnet of the 184-inch cyclotron, which was being converted from its wartime use to its original purpose as a cyclotron." width="1200" height="1033" data-sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" data-srcset="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/XBD9704-01422.jpg 1200w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/XBD9704-01422-380x327.jpg 380w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/XBD9704-01422-760x654.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/XBD9704-01422.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">1946: Ernest Lawrence, Glenn T. Seaborg, and J. Robert Oppenheimer at the control panel to the magnet of the 184-inch cyclotron, which was being converted from its wartime use to its original purpose as a cyclotron.</figcaption></figure><p><strong>You see the signature?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: You see the signature. That’s a good way of putting it. Yes.</p> <p><strong>You once said that medieval alchemists had often tried to change one element into another and never made it. Did you have a sense in this period that you had succeeded where the alchemists had failed?</strong></p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/keO0rf5Szp8?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=286&end=415&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-1990-Upscale-MasterEdit.01_37_18_29.Still010-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-1990-Upscale-MasterEdit.01_37_18_29.Still010-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/perseverance/">Perseverance</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I can’t say that I ever really sat down and said, “Oh look, I have succeeded where alchemists have failed.” It just was everyday life. You’d come to the laboratory, you’d do your experiments, you’d record it, you’d make your interpretation, and I don’t think we ever stopped to think in those kind of terms. I know we didn’t explicitly think in terms of “Wow, what a discovery we’ve made and what an effect this will have on the world!” This was our research. This is what we were looking for. We’d found it. That’s great. We felt very happy about that, but we never stopped to congratulate ourselves and say what a wonderful thing this is. When we measured the fissionability of the other isotope of plutonium that we found after the first one — the one that we identified on February 23, when we produced large amounts, half a microgram of the daughter of the isotope 93-239, which is 94-239. 93-239 is the McMillan and Abelson isotope. When we produced 94-239 in large enough quantity to identify its alpha particle and measure its fissionability and found that it was fissionable with slow neutrons, just like uranium 235, we began to realize then that it had the potential to be the explosive ingredient for an atomic bomb. I should say that we were doing this as our own research. We kept it secret voluntarily and when we reported this to the people in Washington, this really became the basis for the plutonium part of the Manhattan Project, the atomic bomb project.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_28530" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-28530 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-seaborg-hitler-GettyImages-107424684.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-28530 lazyload" alt="December 11, 1941: Adolf Hitler declares war on the United States. (Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone/Getty)" width="2280" height="1589" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-seaborg-hitler-GettyImages-107424684.jpg 2280w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-seaborg-hitler-GettyImages-107424684-380x265.jpg 380w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-seaborg-hitler-GettyImages-107424684-760x530.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-seaborg-hitler-GettyImages-107424684.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">December 11, 1941: Adolf Hitler declares war on the United States. (Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone/Getty)</figcaption></figure><p><strong>Did you sense that what you were really doing was uncovering the secrets of nature?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes, it was, in what we perceived to be a life or death race with Adolf Hitler’s scientists in Germany. Because two German chemists had discovered fission and we had certain indications. They bombed out the heavy water plant in Norway. That’s one way of producing plutonium. Lots of signs made us think that we were in a losing race with Hitler’s scientists, and we had understood full well what it would have meant if Adolf Hitler had got the atomic bomb before the Allies did.</p> <p><strong>It would have meant world domination.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I think it would have meant world domination for Adolf Hitler.</p> <figure id="attachment_26293" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26293 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Operation_Crossroads_Baker_Edit.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26293 size-full lazyload" alt="July 25, 1946: Mushroom-shaped cloud and water column from the underwater Baker nuclear explosion. The photo was taken from a tower on Bikini Island, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) away. Operation Crossroads was a series of two nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. They were the first nuclear weapon tests since Trinity in July 1945, and the first detonations of nuclear devices since the atomic bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. The purpose of the tests was to investigate the effect of nuclear weapons on warships." width="2280" height="1197" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Operation_Crossroads_Baker_Edit.jpg 2280w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Operation_Crossroads_Baker_Edit-380x200.jpg 380w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Operation_Crossroads_Baker_Edit-760x399.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Operation_Crossroads_Baker_Edit.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">July 25, 1946: Mushroom-shaped cloud and water column from the underwater Baker nuclear explosion. The photo was taken from a tower on Bikini Island, 3.5 miles away. Operation Crossroads was a series of two nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. They were the first nuclear weapon tests since Trinity in July 1945, and the first detonations of nuclear devices since the atomic bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. The purpose of the tests was to investigate the effect of nuclear weapons on Navy warships.</figcaption></figure><p><strong>That’s a pretty scary thought.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: It was. We were running scared. That’s why we worked six days a week and had meetings five nights a week. It was a scary time but also obviously a very interesting time. I rate it as the most exciting time of my life.</p> <p><strong>Was there a fear at that time that it would take years to produce the amount of fuel that you would need?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes, there certainly were doubts that we could ever produce it in time.</p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/keO0rf5Szp8?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=493&end=608&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-1990-Upscale-MasterEdit.00_27_57_19.Still001-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-1990-Upscale-MasterEdit.00_27_57_19.Still001-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/vision/">Vision</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>After we moved to Chicago, immediately, in April of 1942 — April 19th, by the way. I arrived there on my 30th birthday, April 19th, 1942 — I got the idea that we could probably produce weighable amounts of plutonium by bombarding huge amounts of uranium, hundreds of pounds, for long periods of time, weeks or even months. Then, knowing the chemical properties, we could extract it so that we would have enough to measure its — what we call macroscopic properties. Up until now we were just working on the radioactive properties — unweighable amounts. I had this idea that we could produce it in large enough amounts that we could have it in actual ponderable amounts, weighable amounts. There were a lot of people that thought that this would not be possible but I thought it would. I hired a couple of ultra-micro chemists, Burris Cunningham and Louis Werner here from Berkeley, and Michael Cefola from New York University, and brought them to Chicago. They took these microgram amounts — a microgram is about a 30 millionth of an ounce. They could do chemical investigations with the actual element itself — weighable amounts, ponderable amounts, macroscopic quantities — and that was the key to working out the separation process for the plutonium that would be produced in the chain reacting piles, as they call them, at Hanford, Washington.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><p><strong>Thirty millionths of an ounce?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: There were a number of people that thought that we couldn’t produce that much. That was a lot. I had the idea and the confidence that perhaps this could be done, and we did that during the summer and fall of 1942 at the wartime Metallurgical Laboratory. This, then, went on to the working out of the chemical separation process. In order to assemble the chemists I needed at the wartime Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago, I had to draw on just about everybody I knew, including a number of my classmates at UCLA. Stan Thompson got the idea for the separation process. This was called bismuth phosphate process — by which it was finally possible to separate the plutonium at Hanford, Washington from the uranium and radioactive fission products. There were tremendous amounts of radioactivity produced, so it had to be a process that worked by remote control — behind large shieldings of water tanks, of lead, and so forth.</p> <figure id="attachment_26305" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-26305 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U1280494.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-26305 lazyload" alt="February 16, 1961: President John F. Kennedy and Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Chairman Glenn Seaborg, following the president's visit to the AEC headquarters in Germantown, Maryland. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)" width="2280" height="2292" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U1280494.jpg 2280w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U1280494-190x190.jpg 190w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U1280494-378x380.jpg 378w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U1280494-756x760.jpg 756w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U1280494.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">February 16, 1961: President John F. Kennedy and Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Chairman Glenn Seaborg, following the president’s visit to the AEC headquarters in Germantown, Maryland. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)</figcaption></figure><p><strong>The Manhattan Project was such a massive scientific effort. What was your sense of what was going on? Did you know how big the scientific effort was?</strong></p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/Pl6k0LNQ0gs?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-1990-Upscale-MasterEdit.00_28_51_08.Still002-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-1990-Upscale-MasterEdit.00_28_51_08.Still002-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes, I knew how big a scientific effort the Manhattan Project was, but it was compartmentalized and there were many laboratories. We had the laboratory at the University of Chicago, the Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago. The Metallurgical Laboratory that worked out the chain reaction. Enrico Fermi did that for the production of plutonium. And then the methods for this chemical separation after its productions, I was in charge of that. They had the pilot plant at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where they ran a low level reactor to make smaller amounts of plutonium and tested the chemical separation process. Then they had the production plant at Hanford, Washington, the southeast part of the state of Washington. At the peak they had 50,000 workers building the reactors and the chemical plants, and then the method that Enrico Fermi had worked out for the reactors and the method I had worked out with my people for the chemical separation of the plutonium produced in the so-called reactors or piles, came to fruition at Hanford. There they produced the plutonium-239, which was chemically separated by our process. Thank God it worked. As soon as it was separated in the spring of 1945, it was shipped to Los Alamos, where Robert Oppenheimer was in charge of the weapons laboratory, and his scientists, chemists and so forth, fabricated it into an atomic bomb. I’ve only told you about the plutonium part. There was another equally massive effort, involving thousands of people, producing uranium-235, the fissionable isotope of natural uranium, and that was put together as an atomic bomb at Los Alamos. Then the plutonium was tested as the atomic bomb at Alamogordo on July 16, 1945, and used in Japan early in August. The U-235 bomb, a bomb made from U-235 that didn’t need to be tested for certain reasons, was then used on Hiroshima on August 6, and the plutonium bomb was used on Nagasaki on August 9, and that brought an end to the war. That’s a very brief discussion of the Manhattan Project.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><p>There were thousands of people. I had about 100 chemists working for me to work out the chemical separation processes, the purification process and so forth at the Metallurgical Laboratory. Not always the same 100, because then I had to have these chemists go to Oak Ridge and man that laboratory, and others go to Hanford, Washington to man that laboratory. I should say there were some women involved too. I’m using the term loosely. As I say, at the peak, there were about 100 professional scientists, bachelors and Ph.D.s and, of course, maybe another 50 to 100 laboratory technicians and so forth. But throughout the Project, thousands of people were working.</p> <figure id="attachment_26294" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26294 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-016.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26294 size-full lazyload" alt="February 21, 1966: Glenn T. Seaborg (R) with his former student, Arthur C. Wahl (L), in Room 307 of Gilman Hall at Berkeley. Wahl was assisting Seaborg when they discovered plutonium in this very room in 1941. (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)" width="2280" height="2786" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-016.jpg 2280w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-016-311x380.jpg 311w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-016-622x760.jpg 622w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-016.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">February 21, 1966: Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg with his former student, Arthur C. Wahl, in Room 307 of Gilman Hall at Berkeley. Wahl was assisting Seaborg when they discovered plutonium in this room in 1941. (Berkeley Laboratory)</figcaption></figure><p><strong>That must have required an incredible amount of coordination.</strong></p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/6VDqC2TD5ug?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-1990-Upscale-MasterEdit.01_24_50_10.Still007-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-1990-Upscale-MasterEdit.01_24_50_10.Still007-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>Glenn Seaborg: There was a great deal of coordination required in the work of my section, as they called it. That had as many as one hundred scientists working at a time. I met with them in group meetings, as I’ve told, practically every night. I kept in very close touch. I interviewed every scientist who came into my section. I did not ever delegate that, so I had some feeling for whether he would fit, and I met in a number of these meetings with the group leaders regularly. I organized it also into a very tightly organized organization. I was what they called a section chief. I had an assistant section chief, and there were three group leaders under him with their groups; another assistant section chief, and he had three groups under him; and another assistant section chief, and I believe four groups there. We met regularly with these group leaders as well. And then the subsections, as we called them, met regularly, and I was conversant with — I believe — everything that each of the one hundred scientists was involved with. It was a great organization effort, and if I may say so myself, I think that may have been the key to the success of the work — the fact that I was really in there and on top of all of it. I think if you talk to any of the people who worked with me in this Chicago section, they would bear this out.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><p><strong>Is that what made it possible to accomplish so much in such a short period of time?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes, absolutely. We certainly did in one year what you almost couldn’t do today. It was an amazing effort, and an amazing performance, if I do say so myself. Not only my section but the others. I don’t think there’s been anything like it since.</p> <figure id="attachment_26278" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26278 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Glenn_Seaborg_1964.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26278 size-full lazyload" alt="1964: Glenn T. Seaborg was chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) from 1961 to 1971." width="2280" height="2840" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Glenn_Seaborg_1964.jpg 2280w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Glenn_Seaborg_1964-305x380.jpg 305w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Glenn_Seaborg_1964-610x760.jpg 610w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Glenn_Seaborg_1964.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Nobel laureate Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg was the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) from 1961 to 1971.</figcaption></figure><p><strong>Many of your discoveries had two applications: one peaceful, and one for weapons and destruction. How did you reconcile the dual use of this, the fact that you were creating something that had a wonderful side to it but also had a terribly destructive side?</strong></p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/6AbuIz9H_8Q?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-1990-Upscale-MasterEdit.00_56_10_12.Still004-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-1990-Upscale-MasterEdit.00_56_10_12.Still004-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>Glenn Seaborg: On the weapons side, we regarded it as a race with Adolf Hitler and his German scientists, so there were no second thoughts about it. No qualms at all. I know of no scientist who felt that we shouldn’t do this and let Hitler beat us. Not a single one at that time. We all felt that this was a matter of life and death and we had to give all of our effort. I had many meetings with leading scientists, like Eugene Wigner, and so forth, who would come over to tell me, “Glenn, we might as well admit it, we’re losing the race. We’re not going to get there in time.” This only spurred us to greater effort. Then lurking in the background was the goal that here we also had a limitless source of energy for use in electricity-producing reactors and that was something developed after the war. It is probably not generally known, but in the power reactors that produce electricity in the United States today, about 40 percent of the energy which comes from the fission is from plutonium and about 60 percent from the U-235. They use the enriched U-235, enriched from its concentration in natural uranium, to run the reactor, but then the rest of it is U-238 capturing a neutron to form plutonium. That same thing happens in power reactors, and while you are producing energy by the fission of U-235, you are producing plutonium-239, which in turn is a nuclear fuel and adds to the nuclear fuel that keeps the reactor going. In the course of the lifetime of a fuel cycle, 40 percent of the energy is produced by plutonium-239, which is a source of satisfaction to me, of course.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_26288" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26288 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/MSRE_U-233_Seaborg_14480987473.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26288 size-full lazyload" alt="1968: AEC Chairman Seaborg at the MSRE controls for startup with U-233. The Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) was an experimental molten salt reactor at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) researching this technology through the 1960s; constructed by 1964, it went critical in 1965 and was operated until 1969." width="2280" height="2288" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/MSRE_U-233_Seaborg_14480987473.jpg 2280w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/MSRE_U-233_Seaborg_14480987473-190x190.jpg 190w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/MSRE_U-233_Seaborg_14480987473-380x380.jpg 380w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/MSRE_U-233_Seaborg_14480987473-757x760.jpg 757w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/MSRE_U-233_Seaborg_14480987473.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">1968: AEC Chairman Seaborg at the MSRE controls for startup with U-233. The Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) was an experimental molten salt reactor at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) researching this technology through the 1960s; constructed by 1964, it went critical in 1965, and was operational until 1969.</figcaption></figure><p><strong>Do people now fully understand what was going on at that time?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: No, I don’t think so. I can understand this.</p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/keO0rf5Szp8?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=1114&end=1220&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-1990-Upscale-MasterEdit.00_05_41_08.Still013-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-1990-Upscale-MasterEdit.00_05_41_08.Still013-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/integrity/">Integrity</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>There are young people today who feel that we shouldn’t have developed the atomic bomb — that it was a mistake. I believe that this is because, through no fault of their own, they don’t have this sense of history. They didn’t live through this most terrifying period when we thought we were losing the race with Adolf Hitler. I might go on and say that after we had developed the atomic bomb, and it looked like it was certainly going to work, and Germany had surrendered, the question arose then whether it should be used on Japan. I was a member of a group under the chairmanship of James Franck, an ex-German physicist who was working at the Metallurgical Laboratory as chairman of a committee of about seven to eight scientists who issued what has become known now as the Franck Report, where we recommended that the bomb not be used on Japan. That it be demonstrated first in the presence of Japanese observers on some uninhabited island, with the thought that they would see what a terrible weapon it was, what it would do to their country if it were used, and would induce the Emperor of Japan to surrender, without the need for the use of the atomic bomb on the Japanese people.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><p><strong>You were hoping that a message could be sent to the Japanese?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: We were hoping that there could be a demonstration that Japanese representatives would attend and see the explosion. Anybody who saw the exploding of a nuclear weapon would realize what it would do to one’s own people. We thought those representatives would go back to the Emperor and the leaders of Japan and tell them, “We’d better surrender.”</p> <figure id="attachment_26300" style="width: 2220px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-26300 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn434.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-26300 size-full lazyload" alt="1990s: Glenn T. Seaborg, in his office at Berkeley, California. Seaborg advised ten presidents, from Franklin D. Roosevelt through George H. W. Bush." width="2220" height="2992" data-sizes="(max-width: 2220px) 100vw, 2220px" data-srcset="/web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn434.jpg 2220w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn434-282x380.jpg 282w, /web/20170621212712im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn434-564x760.jpg 564w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn434.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">1990s: Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg advised ten presidents, from Franklin D. Roosevelt through George H. W. Bush.</figcaption></figure><p><strong>And yet it took two of those bombs.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: It took two to do it.</p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20170621212712if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/lgSngE8pcSs?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-1990-Upscale-MasterEdit.00_51_45_12.Still003-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-1990-Upscale-MasterEdit.00_51_45_12.Still003-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>I’ve often thought that perhaps we could have waited a little longer on the second one — it was only three days between August 6 and August 9 — and saved those lives. However, there’s another side to the story, of course. Those who made the decision that the United States would use the atomic bomb in warfare on Japan had in mind the fact that we only had one or two bombs, and if we made a demonstration and it didn’t work, where would we stand? We certainly would have not convinced the Japanese. And the second reason is that we would save an awful lot of lives overall, American and Japanese, by ending the war even though we had to use atomic bombs to do it. The estimates are that there would have been hundreds of thousands of Japanese killed if it had been necessary to have an Allied invasion, and a large number of American lives lost in an invasion of Japan, and so overall, there were more lives saved than lost by the use of the atomic bomb. That’s the other side of the story. But in balance, I still think it would have been better to have made a demonstration. Then in that way our country would never be in the position of being the only country in the world to use an atomic bomb in warfare.</p> </div> </div>     <aside class="collapse" id="full-interview">    <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>You acted on your convictions at the time and joined a number of your colleagues in signing the Franck Report. What kind of discussions preceded that report?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: We just met in the rooms there in the physics building of the University of Chicago and came to an agreement that we would make this recommendation. It was drafted by a chemist named Eugene Rabinowitch. He did the actual drafting of the language in the report. The report is now available. Anybody can read it. It made essentially two recommendations. One is that there be a demonstration with the hope of forestalling the need to use the bomb and the other one was that we should proceed immediately toward some system of international control of nuclear weapons. Those were the two main recommendations in the Franck Report.</p> <p><strong>Those who created this technology hoped that it would be used in a more limited way, and more wisely?</strong></p> <p>Yes, but that wasn’t a unanimous opinion. I’m saying our committee made that recommendation. There were scientists who thought it should be used, and of course the highest-level scientists that were consulted suggested that it be used.</p> <p><strong>One of the most defining characteristics of our history since the end of World War II has been the nuclear arms race. Something that the group you were involved in obviously worried about if, even if you didn’t quite foresee it.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Well, we essentially foresaw it. That’s right. We wanted to have some kind of international control right from the beginning, as soon as the war was over.</p> <p><strong>Because you knew that the Germans had been working on it, did you assume that other people might be working on it as well?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: No, it wasn’t so much that. By that time we knew the Germans weren’t working on it, and there was nobody else eligible. We knew the Japanese hadn’t been doing it, but we knew that the Russians, the Soviets, would be able to go through the manufacturing processes necessary for the fabrication of an atomic bomb, and we foresaw that if these two powers then faced off with nuclear weapons arsenals, the world would be in not too good a shape. And that’s the way it turned out, of course.</p> <p><strong>But those scientists who felt that way lost control of the technology they helped to create?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: No, they never had control. That was controlled on a higher political level, as it should be.</p> <p><strong>As it should be?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I think so. If a scientist gets elected to a high political position, sure. But I don’t quite see any system whereby a group of scientists could overrule the President of the United States, the Congress and so forth.</p> <p><strong>That gets at a very tough issue. How much control should scientists have over the technology they create?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: They should be listened to. They should give advice, and I believe they should run for political office. They should try to participate in the American system of government. I don’t believe there are enough scientists in government. Some of us have participated. I participated for ten years as the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. I had the chance to be right in the top councils of the government of the United States, but I don’t believe there are enough scientists doing that, in the past or at present.</p> <p><strong>In a sense, you are saying that in our system, our political leaders have control. We all can think of them as having control over the military, but are you saying they should have control over the products of science as well? In these circumstances?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes, they certainly have control over the atomic bomb — the nuclear weapon. That is controlled at the highest political levels of our country, not by the scientist. I’m oversimplifying, but the answer to that is to have the scientist become part of the political apparatus of the country. I think more scientists should get into government.</p> <p><strong>We understand you’ve known every U.S. President since Harry Truman.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: That’s right.</p> <p>I served on the prestigious General Advisory Committee of the first Atomic Energy Commission, appointed by Harry Truman. I served on the first President’s Science Advisory Committee under President Dwight Eisenhower. I served as the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission under President John Kennedy, President Lyndon Johnson, and part of the term of President Richard Nixon. I knew Gerald Ford when he was in Congress. My wife Helen and I had dinner on occasion with Mr. and Mrs. Ford. Of course, Jimmy Carter was a nuclear engineer, and I was familiar with him in that connection, and also advised him on occasion. I served on the National Commission on Excellence in Education for President Ronald Reagan, that came out with the report “A Nation at Risk” and have known President George (H.W.) Bush since the days of the Nixon administration when he served as the Ambassador to the United Nations, and have been in touch with him ever since. A year ago April, he had me back to Washington to brief him on “cold fusion.” Fortunately, even though everybody thought this was a great discovery at that time, I had a feeling that it was probably not really a potential source of energy, and I told President Bush that “cold fusion” is very “cold” indeed, and he used that advice and my suggestion that he create a high level committee of scientists to look into it. This he did, and they confirmed my view that this probably is not really a potential source of energy.</p> <p><strong>Over the years you had more association with some presidents than others. Which of the presidents were you closest with personally? Which did you seem to hit it off with?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Lyndon Johnson. Yes, I had a very good relationship with him. He apparently trusted me and he followed practically all of my recommendations. I can remember having disputes with governmental officials, particularly the director of the Bureau of the Budget. I would ask for more money for the Atomic Energy Commission than the director would want to allocate. Lyndon Johnson would fly us down to his ranch — Pedernales Ranch in Texas — to settle the issue. Lyndon Johnson would sit there and listen to us debate. I would give my case and the director of the Bureau of the Budget would give his case, and in every case, he ruled in my favor. He said, “Glenn, I think you’ve made the best case, I’ll give you that.” Whatever the item was. It usually was some item that cost some money, of course, which I was able to convince the President was worth including in the Atomic Energy Commission’s budget.</p> <p><strong>I suppose it would be an understatement to say that LBJ was a real character?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes, LBJ was a real character, that’s right. But as I indicated, I had a good relationship with him and I liked him. He was the most persuasive man that I’ve ever known. I would see him on occasion talking to a member of Congress at some social function in the White House. He’d envelop him and tell him about some bill that he wanted in Congress and go on and describe it and leave him and say, “Now of course I can count on your support. Thank you very much.” Then he’d go on to the next person and the guy — the congressman who had been the subject of that treatment — was in a daze, and he’d come up afterward and say, “I don’t know what happened to me, but I agreed to it and now I have to go and deliver.” He was the most persuasive person I’ve every known.</p> <p><strong>And decisive.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: A very decisive one.</p> <p>He (LBJ) kept his finger on the individual items. I mean individual budget items for the Atomic Energy Commission. Perhaps I’d have six of them, that I was in dispute with the director of the Bureau of the Budget. I would describe them in detail and he would nod. I would usually win six out of six. I really had his confidence. He really believed that I didn’t have a hidden agenda. He was convinced that I was doing what I thought was best for the country. Once I won his confidence like that, I was able to usually win out in the debates. On the other hand, if he lost confidence in somebody it was just as bad on the other side. That person would have trouble convincing him of anything.</p> <p><strong>You mentioned the nuclear test ban treaty and your support for it. Could you tell us about that?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I think that for someone to be serious about arms control, the litmus test is to be positive on a comprehensive test ban. That’s because with a comprehensive test ban you stop the qualitative improvement of nuclear weapons. And therefore you freeze the arms race at that level, whereas the other steps that are being taken with respect to nuclear weapons are to cut back quantitatively. But we have perhaps 25,000 nuclear weapons on each, the U.S. side and the Soviet side. These incremental cutbacks are relatively unimportant compared to a comprehensive test ban. We’d have to cut way, way back. I think that something like 500 weapons on each side would probably be enough to destroy each country in a nuclear exchange. We have 25,000, so sure it’s important to cut back. You keep whittling away and cutting down, but while you are doing that, stop the qualitative improvement. Just freeze it where it is now.</p> <p><strong>Do you have a sense, having been involved in the early stages of this technology, that politicians squandered their control over the technology? There are so many more weapons than either side could possibly have needed.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes. I don’t know whether I’d say squandered, but certainly it would have been possible to make more progress at the very beginning, in the first conferences right after the war.</p> <p>In particular it would have been of tremendous benefit to both sides if we could have agreed on a comprehensive test ban in 1963, when we settled on both sides for a limited test ban — that is a ban that forbid testing in the atmosphere and outer space and underwater, but allowed continued testing underground. We came so close in 1963, and think of where we would be today if we would have frozen the development of nuclear weapons on both sides. And I emphasize that, at the level where they stood in 1963, if we could have obtained a test ban at that time. At that time we asked for a large number of on-site inspections of a rather intrusive nature that the Soviet leadership wouldn’t accept. I think we should have settled for a smaller number of on-site inspections, and tried to conclude a comprehensive test ban at the time when we settled for a limited test ban. But I have to say that we might not have been able to get that through Congress, through the Senate. John Kennedy made a masterful campaign at all levels to pave the way for the two-thirds vote of affirmation for the limited test ban, and he might not have been able to do that with a comprehensive. I have learned in recent years through Jerry Wiesner, who was the Science Advisor to President Kennedy, that before he died, President Kennedy wished that he had made a bigger try for a comprehensive test ban. Who knows, maybe he would have been able to swing it. It seems unlikely, but maybe he would. It might have been worth trying.</p> <p><strong>Are you saying that a test ban would have blocked the scientific advance of nuclear weapons?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: That’s right. It would block the improvement of weapons so that you couldn’t get the more penetrating kind and the more accurate and improved weapons. It would block that improvement, but I have to say it would block it on both sides. That’s where you have the problem. People don’t want to block it on our side. They say we should get the most efficient weapons that we can, but it would be to our advantage if the improvement were blocked on both sides.</p> <p><strong>Let’s talk about the more constructive face of nuclear technology, and your years at the Atomic Energy Commission. You had very high hopes for the peaceful uses of nuclear power.</strong></p> <p>I don’t think that I thought that nuclear power could be developed immediately. The time scale upon which it was developed was pretty close to what I anticipated. But I did feel, and I still feel, that nuclear power is a beneficial method for producing electric power in our country and throughout the world. It is probably environmentally more benevolent than other methods of producing electricity, if you think in terms of fossil fuels. You have the greenhouse effect, which can lead to catastrophic consequence. And acid rain. You have the terrific toll of coal miners with their black lung disease and so forth. Whereas you don’t have those problems in the relatively clean method of producing electricity through the operation of nuclear power reactors. You have other problems there, of course. The very small possibility of a huge nuclear reactor accident and the problem of nuclear waste disposal. I think the problem of nuclear waste disposal can be solved; it’s almost mainly more of a political problem than a scientific problem. And the other problems so far as the environment is concerned and the detrimental effect, they’re probably less in the case of nuclear power than in other methods of generating electricity. There are probably less casualties per kilowatt-hour of electricity produced through the use of nuclear power than through the other methods of producing electricity.</p> <p><strong>You had a vision of what nuclear power could provide. You wrote at one point that nuclear power could raise the world’s standard of living, and that it would take place in harmony with the natural environment. It hasn’t happened quite the way you hoped. What went wrong?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: We’ve just had a lot of resistance to nuclear power. I don’t like to use the word environmentalists, but a number of them have opposed it. I like to think of myself as an environmentalist. This opposition has been very vocal. Those who have the view that nuclear power might be, in balance, beneficial, are not vocal. They have other matters to occupy their time, and the result is that it has been possible to almost stop the development of further use of nuclear power in the United States. However, there are parts of the world, like France, where this hasn’t happened, and about 70 percent of all the electricity produced in France is produced through the use of nuclear power, and this is giving them quite an advantage. They can produce it because of the lack of this kind of opposition we have in the United States. They can produce it economically, and it can contribute to their being more free of, or less dependent on, the importation of oil from the Mideast and so forth, so that France therefore has the opportunity to be in a position of advantage. They’re actually already beginning to export electric energy to other countries, and if they can in the years ahead produce electric power more economically than we can, they can perhaps beat us in the international commercial competition in the world market. So not everyone is bypassing nuclear power. I think in the United State that we’re going to come back to nuclear power. They’re developing even safer reactors. The ones we have I think are safe enough for the purpose. Even in Three Mile Island, when the worst possible accident occurred, essentially nobody was hurt because we have containment to prevent the spread of radioactivity. I think, either with our present reactors or improved reactors, we’re probably going to come back to nuclear power because of the severe consequences of other methods of developing electricity like the burning of fossil fuels that can lead to the catastrophic greenhouse effect and so forth.</p> <p><strong>What was the problem? As head of the Atomic Energy Commission you were right in the middle of the controversy. Were the companies in the industry not quite sensitive enough about safety?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I would say that. I think the companies could have been more concerned toward the safety aspect of their design of reactors, and we probably made a mistake in also not standardizing to a greater extent on a single design, so that we could put all our efforts into making that safe. That’s what they’ve done in France. There’s a greater degree of government involvement there, so they have succeeded in standardizing. In our free enterprise system, which has a lot to recommend it of course, there was a tendency, a program of having many competing manufacturers and therefore a diffusion of effort and not a concentration on a standardized design, where you could put more emphasis on safety. I want to say, nevertheless, I believe our nuclear power reactors in the United States are safe in comparison to other methods of generating electricity, when you think of it in terms of casualties, however you want to define them, per kilowatt-hour of electricity produced.</p> <p><strong>As you look back on that whole era, when you were in the midst of all the controversy over nuclear power, do you think that people in the scientific community were so inspired by the potential of the technology that there was a tendency not to concentrate as much on the safety factor?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes. I think that is probably true. There could have been more concentration on the safety factor from the very beginning.</p> <p><strong>What was it that slowed it down? Was it the concentration on how positive this would be, and the desire to get it implemented?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I don’t think there was any mechanism really for having that ideal situation during the development. You have a new technology, you see the potential for it, you have the enthusiasts developing it, and in the natural course of events they will place their emphasis on getting the technology developed for applications. Then it’s a rather natural consequence that as time goes on you begin to pay attention to these other things. The same thing is true in the general cleanup program now of the Department of Energy. If you look back at the earlier days at the Atomic Energy Commission and so forth, they had other priorities at those times. In retrospect, it would have been better if they had a broader view but their priorities were to get on with the job. Remember, we were in quite a race with the Soviet Union, too, at that time. I would say that nearly everybody placed the objective of being sure we were ahead in the arms race ahead of these other environmental considerations. In retrospect, perhaps I was wrong, but it’s just easy to understand why it happened.</p> <p><strong>Looking at the circumstances at the time, do you think people were preoccupied?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes, would have been at that time. I lived through it. I would say that our objectives were to get on with the job, not fall behind in the arms race, get on with the development of a new source of energy and so forth. It’s probably a natural consequence that as circumstances change, you begin to consider these other aspects — the environmental aspects, the safety aspects and so forth. Which in a more perfect world should have been considered more from the beginning, but that’s the way life is.</p> <p><strong>We see it differently in hindsight.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Our hindsight is much better, but also, and this is most difficult of all to get across, the circumstances were different. The attitude of the country was different. We were in the middle of a cold war. In the ’60s, the Soviets resumed atmospheric testing. Our priorities were different at that time, and those were the conditions that prevailed.</p> <p><strong>On the nuclear power side, if you knew what you know now and had a chance to do it over, would you do things any differently?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: If I knew everything I do now? Yes, I think I would have somehow insisted, I would have tried — I wouldn’t have succeeded — but I would have tried to get the manufacturers together more for standardization and so forth. It’s a meaningless observation. One couldn’t have done it at that time. They shouldn’t have had the incentive. In our free enterprise system we just let the industrial firms go out and produce their product and compete. That was just part of the American system, which overall is probably the best system in the world.</p> <p><strong>We do make exceptions from time to time about what the role of government should be, even if it intrudes in the market. Are you saying this should be one of those exceptions?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes, it should now. It should be now. But in retrospect one can’t see how that would have succeeded at that time.</p> <p><strong>You seem to be saying that we have gone through a corrective process, if you will.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I would even say that in the case of nuclear power, we’ve over-corrected. There’s a lack of comparison with the dangers of other methods of producing electricity. If we could somehow pass judgment from on high, to make an unbiased evaluation to come out with the method that results in the lowest number of casualties per kilowatt-hour produced, that nuclear power would rate very well.</p> <p><strong>You were concerned about the environment very early on. In the 70s and before, you were talking about the environment. What was it that first focused your attention on environmental concerns?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I never stopped to analyze. You’ve put a question to me. I think it had to do also with my rather natural love for nature and the out-of-doors and hiking and so forth. That probably had as much to do with it as anything. In the case of nuclear power, I knew that in comparison with other methods of producing electricity it stood up pretty well.</p> <p><strong>In 1975 you wrote that we would have to create a “recycle society,” one in which virtually all materials are reused indefinitely. In the meantime, one could say we’ve become even more wasteful and have encountered even greater problems in that area. Do you have a sense now that people are much more sensitive to these problems? Do you have a sense of where we’re headed?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes, I believe there is much more movement today than there was in 1975 toward what I call “the recycle society.” I know that my wife Helen and my daughter Dianne are very conscious of that in our household. We do have to pay attention. There are recycling centers now in many communities and people do drive there with their materials for potential reuse. I wouldn’t say that we’ve quite gotten to the point where we could characterize ourselves as a recycle society, but we’re moving in that direction.</p> <p><strong>Moving in the right direction?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: In the right direction and in that direction.</p> <p><strong>We’ve talked about several environmental issues. If you look at it overall, how do you think we’re doing in our concern for protecting the environment? Are we doing better than we were ten, 15, or 20 years ago?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes, we certainly are doing better than we were ten, 15, or 20 years ago. We’re probably not doing as well as we should. Again, you are finding more people that are cognizant of the need for this and you’ll notice today that candidates for political office have to pay an awful lot of attention to their stand on environmental issues and in many cases it’s a determinative factor. Again, I wouldn’t say that we’ve gone anywhere near as far as we should but we’re doing better than we were a few years ago.</p> <p><strong>You wrote at one point that we live in an age in which science part of our culture, shaping every aspect of our lives and institutions. What do you see as the role of scientists in society? Is their role to advise politicians, to work with our political leaders?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Of course scientists find ourselves in areas now that affect the lives of all of us. Science is a pervasive part of our life. Whether you like it or not, we live in what could be characterized as a “scientific society,” and of course, even members of the general public need to be more scientifically literate than has been the case in the past, even to vote intelligently and we need a work force that’s able to cope with and handle the more intricate equipment that we find in today’s workplace. We need more scientists and engineers in order to progress in this “scientific society.” I think the thrust of your question also is what should scientists do to help in this area, and I’ve indicated already that more scientists should enter the political arena. There aren’t enough of them. There probably aren’t any more now, proportionately, than there were twenty or thirty years ago, maybe less, as I look at the scene in Washington. I just think more of my colleagues should be willing to take time out — you don’t have to really make it perhaps a lifetime career — but more should be willing to go to Washington and serve. Run for political office. That’s where the shortage really is. We have an extraordinarily small number of scientists in Congress. This is not true in a number of other countries. For example, in the Soviet Union there’s a fair proportion of scientifically trained people in government. We also need the scientists at the state level, where I guess there are even less. You find very few scientists who are willing to run for office on the state level or to be governors. There are a couple of scientists who are serving as governors of states but it would be good if we had a much larger proportion.</p> <p><strong>There have been a number of surveys that show a real difficulty with finding workers who have the basic skills to work with technology. You were involved in the 1983 report on Excellence in Education. You had some very strong views about where we were headed and what we were not doing. Where are we falling short?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: We are failing — we have fallen back actually — not gone forward as we should in our pre-college educational system for science and mathematics. We are losing our teachers. We are not obtaining the influx of teachers. Students in college now are not going into teaching, particularly in the areas of science and mathematics. I believe one thing that we need to do in order to correct this is to restore the status of the teaching profession. I say restore because they did have a relatively better status a generation ago. By this I mean restore respect for the teaching profession and actually increase the compensation. They are relatively underpaid, compared to other professions that they can go into. Particularly those who would be qualified to teach science and mathematics.</p> <p><strong>Are you saying that the failure to properly compensate our teachers shows up in more damaging ways down the road?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes it does, because then you are not able to provide the education in science and mathematics that’s required to go out and cope in today’s society. It’s a vicious circle. When you have teachers who are not trained in the subject matter of science and mathematics, and therefore not interested in it and not teaching in a manner to inspire the students to become interested in it, you lose these students. They do not take scientific and mathematical subjects when they can avoid them, and then as they go on, they’re no longer qualified to go back and teach. It’s a vicious circle.</p> <p><strong>When you were growing up, did you plan to go into science?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I didn’t have any idea about going into science. For example, when I was a child in a little town in northern Michigan called Ishpeming, I didn’t even know what science was. My mother was born in Sweden, and she had only a grammar school education, and she didn’t expose me to anything like that. No, I didn’t have any notion at all that I would go into an area that I hadn’t even heard about.</p> <p><strong>Did your mother have ambitions for you?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes, she did. She was a very intelligent woman and I think just a victim of circumstance. She was born in a little town in Sweden, not having the opportunity to go beyond grammar school. Her mother died when she was relatively young, and she just took off as a 17-year-old girl. Actually, her uncle, who was living in Ishpeming, was visiting in Sweden, asked her if she would like to go back to America with him, and she said, “Of course.” I think her parents gave her ten dollars or something like that, and a ticket, and she went to America and to this place where he was living, the uncle, Ishpeming, Michigan, where she worked as a maid until she met my father and got married.</p> <p><strong>Did your parents have any idea what it was that you would be doing as a chemist?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: No. My father would. He was a high school graduate from Ishpeming High School and he took chemistry and physics in high school. He would know what I was doing, but my mother would not have had any experience along those lines and would have to just listen to my explanations of it.</p> <p>As I remember, right from the beginning I just liked school, scholarship. I might say I excelled. I remember in arithmetic in Ishpeming, they used to give these tests periodically, and I remember in the fourth grade, I went through them so fast they had to give me the fifth grade tests. In high school in all the courses that I did take, I did pretty well. In fact, I was the valedictorian of my class, so I always liked school and scholarship.</p> <p><strong>What interested you in school?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Literature. Insofar as you could major in high school, I would have been a literary major. In my freshman year, for example, I took English, oral English, and world history — which was really not a freshman course — and algebra and those were all college preparatory. I did have in mind somehow going on to college, but I wasn’t sure what I would major in.</p> <p><strong>Just sort of a general direction to get more education?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: That’s right. I felt that I should get more education. My mother had other ambitions for me. My father was a machinist. His father was a machinist and his father was a machinist, and I’m fond of saying that I would have been a machinist, perhaps, if I had any talent along those lines at all. But I didn’t. And my mother had other ambitions for me. She wanted me to have a white-collar job, to be a bookkeeper. She thought that would be just the best possible position for her son. I disappointed her in that regard. She was never in the least unhappy. She could see immediately that I was going on to something better than a bookkeeper and she was very supportive all the way.</p> <p><strong>And your father as well?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I don’t know if he ever thought that I would be a successful machinist. I think it was pretty clear from the beginning that I wasn’t talented along those lines.</p> <p><strong>That’s one of those wonderful quirks of life, that you didn’t have an aptitude for that.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Perhaps so. My mother wanted us to move from this Northern Michigan town, Ishpeming, to California so that I and my sister would have greater opportunities. She had that in mind, and also she was getting tired of the cold winters in Michigan. So between the two, she was the motivating force that moved our family into Southern California. We just sold our house, I remember, for $1,200. Bought one-way train tickets to Southern California and just hoped for the best.</p> <p><strong>When did you first know what it was that you wanted to do?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: That was in high school. I lived in a suburb. We moved from Michigan to Southern California, and I lived in a suburb of Los Angeles called Home Gardens at that time. It became South Gate. It didn’t have a high school and I was bused into Watts.</p> <p>I went to David Starr Jordan High School in the Watts district of Los Angeles. I was bused in because there was no high school in the place where I was living, and I took no science until my junior year when it was pointed out to me that if I didn’t take a laboratory course I wouldn’t meet the minimal requirements for entrance to the state university — UCLA. The tuition-free university. Which of course is what I required, a tuition-free university. Then I took chemistry in my junior year. The teacher was Dwight Logan Reid and he just turned me on. He just preached chemistry. He told us about the discoveries that were being made, who some of the famous chemists were and I just thought it was great. I decided then and there to be a chemist. Actually we had the same teacher in my senior year for physics. It was a small high school so they couldn’t teach chemistry and physics, each every year, so it was alternated, and in my senior year I took physics from Mr. Reid and I liked that even better. In those days there was more of an outlet for someone who majored in chemistry, so when I went to UCLA I majored in chemistry but took the maximum amount of physics as well.</p> <p><strong>He really made an impact on you, didn’t he?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: He did. He changed my life. Of course, I knew what science was, but I hadn’t been interested at all in the general science course in my freshman year, and the biology course in my sophomore year. As I say, I was really required to take chemistry in my junior year, and he made the impact, he made the difference.</p> <p><strong>What was it that intrigued you, once he opened your eyes to chemistry and physics?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I think it was the system — the logic of it all. The fact that you could learn certain principles and then make predictions. It all seemed to hang together. A certain amount of excitement… learning what the controversies in science were. He would describe these to us and then have us on the edge of our chair trying to learn what the outcome would be. He often would just leave us hanging there… just let us try to decide what the outcome would be. It was just an air of excitement.</p> <p><strong>It sounds like it wasn’t just the mysteries of knowledge in chemistry and physics that you’re talking about, but the mysteries of life.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: The mysteries of life and also what people were doing and who they were and what they were accomplishing. Of course all of this made an impact on me. I would say it just increased my resolve to get on with my education. It was difficult.</p> <p>My father was not able to find employment on any regular basis after the Depression came, and we just had a hard time. My mother had to work. I found jobs of all kinds right from the beginning and very early at UCLA found a position as a laboratory assistant — I remember at fifty cents an hour and that was even in the middle of my sophomore year. All the way through I earned my money to pay for the — there was no tuition, but there were incidental fees — laboratory fees and to buy the books and pay for the transportation.</p> <p><strong>I suppose that experience would constantly remind you that you have to work hard for what you want?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes. Somehow I don’t know that I needed a reminder. It seemed to me that that’s what I wanted to do. I had an inherent urge to succeed.</p> <p><strong>What went through your mind when you started thinking about chemistry and physics? Did you know what kind of career you wanted?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Not really, because…</p> <p>I didn’t really understand the academic world very much, and of course I had a feeling that the opportunities there were very limited, so I think I had in mind that I would go into an industrial organization and serve as a chemist in industry. That’s why I chose chemistry over physics. I really liked physics better. But in those days there was really no employment, no outlet for physicists, so I solved the problem at UCLA by taking chemistry and physics, majoring in chemistry so that I would be prepared to take a job in industry when I graduated. But at the time I finished UCLA, it was clear to me that I might qualify for an academic position, and I decided that I would go on for a higher degree, a Ph.D. degree, and decided to go on to Berkeley for that. So by then my sights were set more for a position in the academic world.</p> <p><strong>This was in 1934?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: By the time I finished UCLA, yes. It was 1934.</p> <p><strong>There probably weren’t a lot of want ads in the paper for physicists at that point.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: There were not, no. In fact, I guess one knew what a physicist was, but just barely. It was not a word that was current in the English language at that time.</p> <p><strong>As you look back on your education now, is there anything you would have done differently, anything you would have studied that you didn’t?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: No, nothing that stands out. I guess I was lucky. I really took whatever courses were available in chemistry and physics and mathematics, so I don’t know that I could have done much better at that school… UCLA. Which by the way was a good school. There was no graduate work at that time, so there was an unusual amount of attention that the professors gave the undergraduates. So we did research much like graduate students do and so forth. Graduate student life came to UCLA a little later, just about the time that I graduated from UCLA.</p> <p><strong>What did your parents think when you first began to move into science, when you first told them you had decided to be a chemist?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: They approved. In fact I’d say they liked it. When I found a certain degree of success they were very proud.</p> <p><strong>How important was that encouragement for you?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I suppose it was pretty important, but I really had an inherent ambition to go on to things like that. I suppose if I had been discouraged by my parents it would have been more difficult, but I have a feeling I would have gone on anyway.</p> <p><strong>Were there any books you read when you were young that inspired you or caught your attention?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: The book that had a great impact on me was the book <em>Arrowsmith</em> by Sinclair Lewis. This described the trials and tribulations and successes of a struggling young medical scientist, Martin Arrowsmith. It described how he went back to the laboratory at night and worked all hours to solve the problems and so forth. It also described his romantic life, his first wife who was lost to a laboratory accident actually, and his remarriage and so forth. All of this just made a deep, a tremendous impression on me. I empathized with it. I related to Martin Arrowsmith. I saw him as a prototype that I was trying to emulate.</p> <p><strong>Because you saw something of your own life in that story?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I saw myself, yes. It was a struggling young scientist doing research, really for research’s sake. For the benefit of humanity, and I was just really impressed. I just loved that book. I was far enough along and already doing undergraduate research at UCLA. There was no graduate work yet at UCLA, so the professors gave undergraduate students the opportunity to do research under their personal direction, and I already was doing that. I just thought it was great, and here was a person who personified everything that I was trying to be.</p> <p><strong>One of the points of the book was that research can do great things to advance humanity.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: That was one of the great points in <em>Arrowsmith</em>, that he was doing research to advance humanity, to cure disease and so forth. That made an impression, also. I was in another field but in the back of my mind I had in mind such a possibility, too.</p> <p><strong>When did you read that?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I would say the early 1930s. I know it was when I was at UCLA, and that would probably be in the early 1930s. I would say probably a year or two after the book was published.</p> <p><strong>Did that book help you formulate a vision of what you wanted to do with your life?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes. It sort of reinforced my feeling that I was on the right track. By that time I knew I wanted to go on in science and chemistry and physics.</p> <p>I took a course in atomic physics in my last year at UCLA, in which the professor, John Adams — who by the way is a lineal descendant of the second president of the United States — Professor Adams told us about the work at Berkeley: the cyclotron; Ernest Lawrence, the inventor of the cyclotron; and the discovery of artificial radioactivity; the discovery of the neutron, and all of these advances in nuclear science, and I just thought that’s the place where I wanted to go. I’d also learned from my chemistry professors that Gilbert Newton Lewis, the most famous physical chemist in the world, was the head of the College of Chemistry at Berkeley, and that was another reason that I wanted to go to Berkeley, and I wound up working for him as his personal research assistant. That was my first job after I received by Ph.D.</p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: That was on the last Monday of January in 1939 when the word came that fission had been discovered. The fission of uranium had been discovered by the two German chemists, Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann. I had been thinking about the puzzling results that resulted from the bombardment of uranium with neutrons, where they thought they were finding transuranium elements, heavier man-made elements beyond uranium. I was unsatisfied with that explanation, but I couldn’t put my finger on what the correct explanation was, and then when I heard that at the seminar, called the Journal Club, in the Physics Department at Berkeley, my attitude was, “Oh my gosh! Why didn’t I think of this?” This was so obvious, and after the seminar I walked the streets of Berkeley for hours just ruminating, just thinking, “What a wonderful discovery, but how could I have been so stupid?” For all of this time, having all the evidence at my disposal, and not being able to come up with the interpretation that when the neutron struck the uranium atom it split it in half, instead of being captured to form heavier elements. I just thought that was in retrospect so obvious and I should have been able to come up with that interpretation myself. Of course, there were many other more famous scientists than I who also were not able to come up with that correct interpretation.</p> <p><strong>Did you spend those hours on the streets scolding yourself?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I was alternately scolding myself for having missed the interpretation and exulting that two of my fellow chemists had the perspicacity to come out with the correct interpretation — Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann.</p> <p><strong>Was this a lesson that you took throughout the rest of your scientific endeavors? Is this something that came back to you later?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes, I think so. I think I was guided a little bit by it. Perhaps examined my results a little bit more carefully and kept trying to come out with a correct interpretation of my experimental results.</p> <p><strong>How did things start to fall in place for you in your professional life? How hard did you have to work to accomplish the things that you did?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I had to work pretty hard. I studied every night and on Sundays. But it was never a chore. It was what I wanted to do. I didn’t feel sorry for myself, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed learning the material, I enjoyed the examinations, I enjoyed trying to excel. We had competition; there would be a contest for class leadership — to see who would come out with the highest average at the end of the semester. I enjoyed that competition and quite often succeeded in being at the top of the list. I never regarded it as a sacrifice.</p> <p><strong>You mentioned competition. How important do you think that is, as an incentive for us?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: It was very important. There was another chemistry major, named Saul Winstein, and he and I were vying together all the time. Usually we were at the top of the class up here, and there was a big gap from the person who came in third. Incidentally, Saul also went on to become a very successful and eminent scientist. Got his Ph.D. degree at Caltech, returned to UCLA and became a member of the UCLA faculty. I was offered a position at the UCLA faculty, too, a couple of years after I received my Ph.D. at Berkeley, but fortunately Professor Gilbert Newton Lewis offered me the same rank in a position at Berkeley, so I chose Berkeley.</p> <p><strong>You talk about how hard you worked. How much of a role has luck played in your success, do you think?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I think luck has played quite a role in my success. To have been able to go to the leading nuclear laboratory in the United States at Berkeley and work with the best accelerator there, Ernest Lawrence’s laboratory, this made possible so many of my discoveries. The radioactive isotopes, Iodine 131, Technetium 99M, Cobalt 60 and so forth that are used even today in nuclear medicine. The discovery of plutonium and what that led to. Of course, I did help a little bit because I chose to go to Berkeley, but to have known about Berkeley, to be accepted at Berkeley and to be in a position to work in that emerging field of nuclear physics certainly involved a great deal of luck.</p> <p><strong>It sounds like you had prepared yourself to take advantage of lucky circumstances.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: That’s right. I had just the background that made it possible, and I could work in the chemistry department at Berkeley with a teaching assistantship to support myself, but at the same time, work in the Radiation Laboratory at the cyclotron to do all of this seminal work in nuclear physics, transuranium elements and so forth. Certainly luck played a significant role. If I hadn’t been prepared, then I wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of luck. I was prepared, and I was lucky to be at the right place, the best place in the United States at the right time. To that extent luck played a role.</p> <p><strong>Was there someone who gave you your first big break?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: It’s a little hard to answer. One of the young physicists in the Radiation Laboratory, named Jack Livingood, asked me to join him to make the chemical separations that led to the discovery of the isotopes that are so important even today in nuclear medicine. Gilbert Lewis chose me to be his personal research assistant when I received my Ph.D. at Berkeley. I profited immensely from working every day, side by side with the greatest physical chemist in the world. Then of course, Ernest Lawrence, with his Radiation Laboratory available to me, certainly played a very important role in my life and accomplishments.</p> <p><strong>Could you identify someone as the single most positive influence on your professional life?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: That would be hard to do. Maybe it would be Lewis. I was just in a good environment. There were many first class scientists working at the very forefront of a new field and at a place where they had the apparatus and equipment to make it possible to make great advances. I think that my colleagues that I had both in the Chemistry Department and the Radiation Laboratory of the Physics Department, they were the best in the country. The best in the world. I had another piece of luck in the way that I was sort of trained in the borderline between chemistry and physics. There was a tremendous area of opportunity for a chemist who could apply his knowledge and techniques to the nuclear physics of transmutations in the identification of the products. I had prepared myself almost in a unique manner, unknowingly, to work in that fruitful borderline area.</p> <p><strong>A lot of people have brains and potential and work hard. Why do you think you succeeded where others did not?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I’ve often wondered about that. I’ve known so many people who I thought were brighter than I am, whose accomplishments tapered off as they went along. I think I would have to credit persistence, and I hate to use this word, but hard work. That may be the difference. That probably accounts for the difference in the success.</p> <p><strong>Just keeping at it and not giving up?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Not giving up, and as I say, this is a corny word, but hard work. Again, not as a sacrifice. I liked it. It was what I wanted to do. I never thought, my gosh, now I have to go back to the laboratory. That’s where I wanted to be. Nevertheless, that’s where I was and it was hard work. Working, doing research nearly all of my waking hours. I took time out to go to the movies and dancing. I went to the city where the big bands were playing in those days with girlfriends and so forth, but my number one priority was to do the research and work out the problems and get the results and interpret it and write papers and write review articles and so forth.</p> <p><strong>So your priorities were clear, but you weren’t living a monkish life?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: No, not at all. I loved dancing with girlfriends to the big bands that were playing at the Fairmont Hotel, the Mark Hopkins, the Palace Hotel, the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco.</p> <p><strong>Did you realize at some point that there was just the right balance you could strike between having time off and relaxing, and spending the hours in full concentration at the lab?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes, I think I did learn that. I just felt the need for it. I always took Friday evening off. I went through the week, and Friday evening I would go out to a movie or have a date or whatever, almost I might say with extreme regularity, to get a new lease on life. And maybe again Saturday night, too.</p> <p><strong>When you came back to the lab, you were refreshed?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes, I was recharged.</p> <p>There were a few times in life when I went too far. I ran myself down, where I wouldn’t say I had a breakdown, but I was extremely exhausted, and I learned how to get around that too. For example, that happened to me when I was in Chicago working at the Metallurgical Laboratory on the atomic bomb project. After a year I was just almost washed out. Someone mentioned to me, “What you should do, Glenn, is play golf.” And I began to play golf every weekend and that did it. It just kept the juices flowing, the exercise you needed, the recreation. The taking on of new problems and so forth. And a little later in life, when I had similar problems, I took up hiking, and for the last 25 years or more, but with regularity, I’ve been a hiker and we’d go hiking on weekends. Yes, I did learn the need for these — paying some attention to these — other areas of activity.</p> <p><strong>To give your mind a breather?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: It wasn’t only to give your mind a breather so that you’d come back refreshed, but getting your body into shape, exercising, improve the circulation of the blood. Maintenance you might call it. You just couldn’t work in the laboratory or at the desk all the time. You need to pay some attention to the bodily functions and that’s what I did early in life — taking up golf and a little later through hiking. As I say, it refreshed your mind, this physical activity. Equally importantly, it kept the metabolic function going so that you were physically healthy enough to carry on the work.</p> <p><strong>The road to success is usually a winding one. What kinds of setbacks did you have along the way, and what did you learn from them?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Setbacks? I don’t remember any. I could give you a number of cases where I missed a discovery. I don’t know if you would call that a setback. Like nuclear fission and other things. That’s in retrospect.</p> <p><strong>Were there things that happened in the course of your research and your work that stopped you cold for a moment? That made you think twice about it? That shook perhaps your confidence in what you were doing?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I can remember in the case of the identification of one of the transuranium elements, where if we had made a clearer interpretation at the time it would have been better for us. Not doing so led to controversy and so forth. Those are the only instances that occur to me.</p> <p><strong>So you truly have been lucky.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes, I think so.</p> <p><strong>Have you ever had doubts about your work, about your abilities? Have there been moments when you questioned where you were headed and how well you were doing at it?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: No, I don’t think so. I don’t remember any. I had a pretty clear course the whole time.</p> <p><strong>We were talking about the balance between professional life and personal life. Who or what has had the greatest influence on your personal life?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: My wife Helen, for sure. There’s where I was lucky again. She was Ernest Lawrence’s secretary and I had an occasion to go up there and do a little bit of business and my eyes were open. I was going with somebody else, and she was going with somebody else, so it took a little while to straighten that out, but I had my eyes set on her. Then I began to date her, and she is really the best thing that ever happened to me. We were married 48 years ago. I still think she’s the most attractive woman that I know. I’m just lucky. I was perspicacious enough to see that this is somebody that I should try to get interested in me.</p> <p><strong>People who do research can get a pretty good case of tunnel vision, where you are so concentrated you lose sight of the broader aspects of life. Is that one of the things that your wife has done for you, to help remind you that there is something outside of the laboratory?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes, I think so. Also she’s so supportive and so sensitive, so generous. She’s just been a source of joy. Every night when I come home, I look forward to greeting her as I come into the house.</p> <p><strong>You seem to have a real streak of romance in you, both personally and professionally.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I could have told you again that I fell in love in the ninth grade with another girl, Vivian Dawson, and again sort of in college. That was the daughter of Dwight Logan Reid. She wound up going to UCLA, Beth Reid, and I dated her for about a year, and then there were others before I met Helen, but I very often went in those days — from UCLA on — with more than one girl at a time. I loved the relationship, completely platonic relationship, but I hadn’t fallen in love overboard until I met Helen, and then I only went with her from then on until we were married.</p> <p><strong>Was there something about the pursuit of science that also seemed romantic to you?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I think so, yes. And certainly the tie-in with <em>Arrowsmith</em>.</p> <p>There was a certain romanticism about it. It was just an ingrown need. I just liked it, the logic of it, the possibility of coming up with new theories that nobody else had thought of. I did this a couple of times. For example, the actinide concept for placing the heaviest elements in the period table, revise the whole periodic table of the elements. That was my idea. And the excitement. I suppose I had Viking blood in my veins, being from 100 percent Swedish descent. And where do you look for excitement? You no longer find it in geographical exploration and so forth. The search for new knowledge, the search for something that nobody else has found, that you are the first to find. Certainly that comes in to it. I would have to put excitement as high on the list of motivating factors.</p> <p><strong>All modesty aside, how would you describe the contributions you’ve made to your field? What’s been the most exciting moment in your career?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: The most exciting episodes were my years at the Metallurgical Laboratory working on the atomic bomb. The stakes were so high. We thought that Hitler’s Germany was ahead of us, that we were in a losing race and we knew, of course, what that would mean if Hitler got the atomic bomb. So we worked six days a week and five nights for meetings. I took Sundays off to play golf in order to keep going. That was certainly the most exciting part of my life. In terms of discoveries, I would have to rate the discovery — i.e., the synthesis and identification — of plutonium and all if stands for. It’s the explosive ingredient for the atomic bomb, it’s one of the nuclear fuels used in nuclear power reactors. Perhaps my biggest scientific contribution was changing the periodic table. That is what they call the actinide concept — placing the heaviest elements in a separate row at the bottom of the periodic table, hence changing the whole form of the periodic table from the original concept of the great Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleyev.</p> <p><strong>In a way, you reorganized the way people approach chemistry.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes, certainly at that upper end. There’s an interesting story connected with that.</p> <p>When I was ready to publish that right after the war, I showed it to what I think were the two leading inorganic chemists in the world. I said, “Here, I’m going to rearrange the periodic table and publish it, and make the suggestions, and what do you think?” They said, “Don’t you do it, Glenn. You would ruin your scientific reputation.” Well, I had an advantage. I didn’t have any scientific reputation so I went ahead and published it and, of course, that is now the form of the periodic table that’s used universally throughout the world. I would say that was my greatest scientific contribution, although I’ve been involved also in the discovery — with my co-worker, Albert Ghiorso, here in the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory — of ten transuranium elements, the synthetic chemical elements above the upper end of the stable elements, or natural elements, that end at uranium, atomic number 92.</p> <p><strong>Were people shocked when you revised the periodic table?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Their view of the periodic table — which had existed since the time of Mendeleyev, 1869 — was so entrenched that they just didn’t think that it made any sense to rearrange it the way I was doing. They thought that if I published it, I would be ridiculed. But I was so convinced by that time that I was right that I went ahead anyway and published it.</p> <p><strong>Were you ridiculed?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: No. Not really. Because it was so logical. There were a number of scientists who never accepted it, who actually went to their grave disputing me and saying that this was not a sound move, a sound change to be made in the periodic table, but they were a minority. The great majority of the scientific world accepted it. Not immediately, but very soon. I often describe how scientists sometimes accept things like this. It seems to go through stages — they first say that it’s impossible, it can’t be this way, and then as time goes on and it’s accepted, they say, well it was obvious in the first place. That’s sort of what I went through in this case. As I say, people began to think it’s obvious and it’s accepted. Now it’s in every book — every high school chemistry book, every college book, every chart of the isotopes and so forth. It’s universally accepted and it’s pretty well — I received credit for having made it. It’s probably the main reason that I received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1951, sharing it, of course, with my colleague, Edwin McMillan, who had discovered the first of the transuranium elements — the element with the atomic number 93, neptunium. Plutonium has the atomic number 94.</p> <p><strong>How did you decide what to name the new element?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: That’s very interesting too.</p> <p>The last planet was Uranus and when the German chemist Klaproth discovered uranium, I think it was 1789, he decided to name it after Uranus. When McMillan and Abelson synthesized and identified — we say discovered — the next element, the first transuranium element, with the atomic number 93, in 1940, in the meantime the planet Neptune had been discovered, so McMillan decided he would name it neptunium. Then when we synthesized the next element, element 94, later in 1940 and the beginning of 1941, we decided to name it after the next planet, Pluto. Here’s a little-known story. We perhaps should have named it therefore plutium, but I liked the sound of the name plutonium, it rolled off better. And even more controversial or it might have been, was the symbol. If the name was plutonium, the symbol obviously should be “Pl.” I liked the sound of the symbol “Pu” better, and suggested that be the symbol, expecting that it would be met with resistance when the work was declassified after the war — we were doing this work on a secret basis — that I would be roundly criticized for giving the element the symbol Pu, and nobody criticized us at all. It was accepted immediately and everybody now — people don’t know even now that there might have been another possibility for the symbol for plutonium.</p> <p><strong>Why were you so drawn to Pu?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I just liked it. Pu! Pu! Let’s say in the sense that scientists like to have a little fun and I just thought it would be great to give a symbol like that to a chemical element.</p> <p><strong>In those days you probably weren’t having very much fun, so you had to find it where you could.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: That was it, yes.</p> <p>There’s no planets beyond Pluto so that when we synthesized and identified the next elements we had to use another system. The next one, 95, we called americium because, due to my actinide concept, we knew by then, that it was an analogue of a so-called rare earth element which was named europium, after the continent of Europe, so we named element 95 after the continents of the Americans. The next one was 96, named curium, after Pierre and Marie Curie, the leading investigators of radioactivity, because the element that it was a homologue of is gadolinium, named after a person, the Finnish rare earth chemist, Johann Gadolin. Then the next element, 97, we named berkelium. We hit the jackpot because it is analogous, homologous, with the rare earth element terbium that was named after a city Ytterby in Sweden, and so we named it after the city of Berkeley. Then for the next one we had to use a different system because the analogous element was dysprosium, named after the Greek word dysprositos, meaning “difficult to get at,” and we decided California was “difficult to get at” in 1849 during the gold rush, so we will just name it californium. I have an interesting story to tell about the naming of berkelium and californium. At the time that we published this and announced these names, the “Talk of the Town” section of the <em>New Yorker</em> magazine ran a little story saying they had noticed that some California scientists had discovered the next two elements and they had, in typical California fashion, named them after California and Berkeley. They said that we really made a mistake. We didn’t exhibit foresight. We should have named 97 “universitium” and element 98 “ofium,” thus reserving for elements 99 and 100 “berkelium” and “californium.” I answered it but they didn’t print it. I said they couldn’t accuse us of lack of foresight. They might accuse us of lack of confidence. I said we got our names in first for 97 and 98, berkelium and californium, thus forestalling the possibility of some New Yorker finding the next two elements and naming them newium and yorkium.</p> <p><strong>Did they print it?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: They didn’t print that. They sent me a letter back. They said, “We are busy in our laboratories trying to synthesize the next two elements.” That’s all they did. They sent that little letter back.</p> <p><strong>Maybe one of these days someone will discover and identify a new element and call it seaborgium.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: That is suggested many times and I have only one answer to that and that usually makes the person withdraw the suggestion. They only name elements after dead people so I would not like to see that.</p> <p><strong>So that’s not something you’re looking forward to.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: That’s not something I’m looking forward to.</p> <p><strong>When you’re away from your work, do you think about it a lot? Is your mind constantly drawn back to the laboratory?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I think of it a lot subconsciously. Some of my thoughts apparently come while I’m asleep. I wake up at night or in the morning with a clear thought, a clear objective, a new idea. I think of it a lot, and as I say, I believe that thinking includes a subconscious process. I’m not a psychologist. I can’t define for you the mechanism at all, but I certainly have the feeling that there’s some subconscious thinking going on. It’s sort of going on most of the time. But when I take time off and take a hike, or as I used to play golf, then I’m not thinking about it. Then I’m completely absorbed in an activity or social event.</p> <p><strong>Are there days when you get out of bed with that thought and dash into the office and you come in looking for your colleagues?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: That’s right. That’s happened to me a lot of times during my life.</p> <p><strong>That must be a very thrilling moment.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Absolutely. That’s why, as I said earlier, the appellation, “excitement,” comes into it. Let’s face it. We love excitement and scientists find excitement in their work, in their discoveries. In fact, I think it’s excitement at a level where most other people don’t experience the thrill of the chase and the catch.</p> <p><strong>You’ve managed to catch quite a few.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: As I’ve said, I’ve been lucky.</p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Perhaps another exciting point of my career was when I finally realized that the elements should fit in the periodic table as actinide elements. The actinide concept. I remember that I was preparing a report for a visiting committee to come on the following Monday and I dictated this report to one of the women in the laboratory, a chemist, but who was also able to take shorthand, and by the way who had been a classmate of mine at UCLA, and it was while I was dictating that report that this idea really crystallized. I said, “Oh, it must be this way.” I dictated that concept, and that report — just as it was dictated on that day in July of 1944 — has been published in what is called the <em>National Nuclear Energy Series</em>, the <em>Plutonium Project Record</em>. That was certainly one of the most exciting moments of my life, when I just got this concept that this is the way the periodic table should be rearranged.</p> <p><strong>Did you have the sense that these things were like stones lying under your feet, waiting to be found?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes, that was kind of it. That was it. I was just dictating this report and said, “Hey, this is the way this should fit together.” The actual working of how I dictated that report is in the <em>Plutonium Project Record</em>.</p> <p><strong>Could you explain to us, in a way we can all understand, what changes you made to the periodic table?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I took the elements — the heavy elements, the elements just before uranium, and the transuranium elements, up in the body of the periodic table — and placed them down below the so-called rare earth elements, and said that they were analogous, element by element, to the rare earth elements, and not analogous to the elements that would have been the case if they would have remained up in the main body of the periodic table. This made it possible to synthesize and identify many of the transuranium elements, because we then knew their correct chemical properties before they were discovered. It’s necessary to make a chemical separation when you are doing the discovery experiments, because there are billions of times more radioactivity, radioactive atoms, formed that are not the product that you’re looking for. There’s just a little bit of a weak radioactivity due to the product that you’re looking for. You have to make a chemical separation to identify it, and the actinide concept made it possible to know the chemical properties before the discovery, so you could make the chemical identification.</p> <p><strong>So that you could zero in on the area?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes. These heavy transuranium elements were analogues of the rare earth elements, element by element. Then you could do a calibration experiment with the rare earth elements and have the heavy transuranium elements come off in the same order in the chemical separation experiment.</p> <p><strong>So this greatly facilitated the research on additional elements?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: More than that, it made it possible. Without that, it wouldn’t have been possible to chemically identify these new elements. So it was a powerful and necessary tool for the discovery of these transuranium elements.</p> <p><strong>Was it the key that unlocked the door?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: It was the key that unlocked the door. That’s a good way of putting it. Of course, now we’ve gotten to the point where we are beyond the actinide elements, and the elements with the atomic numbers 104, 105, and 106, they go back up into the body of the periodic table. But again, we know the chemical properties, because then they’re truly analogous with the elements in the body of the periodic table. Element 104 is like hafnium, and 105 is like tantalum, and 106 like tungsten, and so forth. These elements have had their chemical properties measured just recently, just within the last few years, and in some cases just this year, here in the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, by a team of scientists led by Professor Darlean Hoffman. These elements have been produced on a one-atom-at-a-time basis, and even though they have very short half-lives, just less than a minute, it has been possible to determine their chemical properties. For example, element 105 is chemically like tantalum. So we’re back up in the body of the periodic table now, and then it goes on out to element 118, the next noble gas.</p> <p><strong>Is there a particular talent that you don’t have that you’ve always admired or wanted to have?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes, I think I would have been pleased to be endowed with more theoretical ability. I don’t know that I aspire to be a theoretical physicist, but if I had greater mathematical ability, I didn’t lack in that, but if I had greater mathematical ability and greater theoretical insight, I think it would have helped me in my career.</p> <p><strong>What was it that you wanted to do in theory that you haven’t been able to do? Is there something you wanted to explain that hasn’t been explained?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I think that I would have had a better grasp of what I was doing. I could perhaps predict the chemical properties of the undiscovered elements a little better, because you get into rather abstruse concepts in the electronic structure and so forth. I could do that better. I don’t think that — however my brain cells are put together — they are functioning as efficiently in that area as they have been in the areas where I have made my progress.</p> <p><strong>What would you say to a student who may be contemplating a scientific career? What can you tell them about the rewards and satisfaction of a career in science?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I’d probably answer that on three levels.</p> <p>One, there is a very interesting and exciting field to enter in becoming a scientist or engineer. Here you’ll have — if you are a research scientist — you’ll have the excitement of discovery, the excitement that I’ve had the privilege of living with for most of my adult life. A scientist or engineer also has the satisfaction of knowing that he or she is working in the really central area in today’s society. A very important area because we’re living in a highly competitive international society. Scientists and engineers are the key to that. That’s the first area. The other area is the one I referred to already — one needs a certain minimal knowledge of science and mathematics to perform competently and adequately in today’s workforce — the more complicated technological society in which we live. Third, even if you are not involved in either of these, which is not very likely, you still need a certain minimal amount of scientific literacy in order to cope, to perform, to vote in today’s society. There are so many questions that have a scientific basis for them, some of which I’ve already mentioned. How are we going to meet the challenge of the greenhouse effect? The other environmental challenges like acid rain, the questions about nuclear power, can we understand these and make meaningful decisions on those? The question of food additives, the need to make sensible decisions about that, and I could go on and on. The average citizen needs to have a higher degree of scientific literacy today, and this will increase in the future, the requirement for this.</p> <p>Many of the central issues in today’s society really concern our very survival. The question of arms limitation. The question of whether we should have a comprehensive test ban, which by the way, I strongly favor. These depend on some minimal understanding of science. A citizen just can’t react sensibly in today’s society without a greater understanding of science. They don’t have to be a scientist but they do require a greater understanding of science than has ever been the case in the past.</p> <p><strong>For those who are thinking about a career in science, it offers an opportunity to be at the very heart of some of these issues.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes, you will of necessity be in a position of importance, a position that is central in today’s society. I would urge young students who are considering careers to become conversant, very well versed in science, whether they go into science or not.</p> <p><strong>It’s not just a question of having a job, it’s a question of helping shape tomorrow?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes, I don’t see how as time goes on and as we proceed in the inevitable direction that we are proceeding, how any person who isn’t knowledgeable to a minimal degree and conversant in science can play a role in helping to shape the world of tomorrow.</p> <p><strong>How did your children feel about your work?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I think my children suffered from the fact that by the time they came along their daddy was already a well-known scientist and they in general shied away from entering science as a career, but not entirely. One went on in biology and majored in biology. A daughter went on to get a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is a practicing clinical psychologist, which is a part of science. Another majored in psychology. In general, however, they didn’t embrace science, and I think they were influenced in that, unfortunately, by their dad’s reputation, which carried into the school. I know my elder son, Peter, recounted for me scenes in the classroom where the teacher would read the roll, come down to Peter Seaborg. “Are you the son of Glenn Seaborg?” And then Peter would have to shrink back and say yes, and so he was behind the eight ball to begin with. So he went into history.</p> <p><strong>You made major contributions to the area of nuclear medicine. At least one of those contributions touched you more personally than you might have anticipated.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes. That was iodine 131. I might begin by saying how I got into that.</p> <p>I met the medical scientist, Joe Hamilton, on the steps of the Physics Building, asked him how things were going, and he said, “Not so good. I’m working with an isotope of radioactive iodine to study thyroid function, but it has a half-life of only 25 minutes and I can’t get the measurements made in that time. I’d like a longer-lived isotope.” I asked him, “Joe, what length of half-life would you like?” And he said, “Oh, about a week. Then it would give me some time for the experiments, but not so long but what you could make a good deal of it.” I went back into the laboratory with my co-worker, Jack Livingood, and within about a month came up with iodine 131, which has a half-life of eight days. I think I was delivering about as well as anybody could ever expect. The personal story is that a few years later my mother developed this thyroid condition for which iodine 131 is the cure. She was in terrible shape. Night sweats, pulse rate of 150, I don’t think she would have lasted more than a few more weeks. A physician, who had done some undergraduate research with me at Berkeley — my mother was living in South Gate at that time and he was down there — recognized the condition, prescribed diagnosis with iodine 131 to define the condition, and then treatment with iodine 131, and that corrected it completely and she lived for many years. That gave me the satisfaction of having one of my discoveries prolong the life of my own mother for many years.</p> <p><strong>Do those kinds of things make you wonder about providence?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes, that is a rather unusual coincidence, I must admit. But iodine 131 is still used and saves an awful lot of lives now.</p> <p>Another one of my discoveries, with Emilio Segrés, at this time, was technetium 99M, which is probably the workhorse of nuclear medicine today. It is used more than any other isotope. It has ideal properties because its half-life is only six hours so that you can do the job and it decays away and doesn’t cause radiation damage, but it’s kept alive by a parent which has a half-life of about three days. So that in the hospitals they can have what they call “cows” and milk the technetium 99M from the molybdenum 99 parent. As I say, that’s the most used radioactive isotope in nuclear medicine today. Emilio Segré and I discovered that in 1938. We had no idea at that time that it would have these beneficial applications. We were just doing nuclear research to increase knowledge. As has been the case in a number of my discoveries, later years showed that the results of my research had many practical and beneficial applications.</p> <p><strong>What is technetium 99M used for?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Technetium 99M is used in the diagnosis of thyroid conditions, liver malfunction, brain tumors and a number of kidney functions. A number of medical conditions like that where the use of the radioactive isotope — the way in which it goes to the site where the problem occurs and the measurement of that leads to the diagnosis. For example, I had a diagnosis of my thyroid that way just a few years ago. It turned out all right but the doctor immediately suspected a condition and prescribed that. It is widely used. A fair proportion of all the people who enter hospitals today will wind up being diagnosed through the technetium 99M. I bet it will be used on you before the end of your life.</p> <p><strong>What an irony that you would go to the doctor for a problem and that he would prescribe something that you’d discovered!</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes. That happened in the case of technetium 99M. The doctor knew, of course, who I was and that I was the co-discoverer of that isotope, and I think he had a great deal of satisfaction in being able to apply it to me. He explained it all to me. He showed how the isotope was made and applied it. Then he showed me the printout and the film and explained it to me and so forth. I think he got a lot of satisfaction out of that.</p> <p><strong>In a way it’s a wonderful paraphrase of the old line, “Physician, heal thyself.”</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: It would have turned out that way. It was only a diagnostic tool in this case, and I came out not suffering from the condition that he was suspecting might be the case.</p> <p><strong>You are, as you mentioned, a full-blooded Swede, and you returned to Sweden to accept the Nobel Prize. Was there anything in particular that went through your mind other than the honor of having your work recognized?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: It was an emotional experience.</p> <p>My mother, ever since I was a little boy, told me with pride that I was a descendant of a race that was responsible for these wonderful prizes in science, the Nobel Prizes. And of course that made an impression on me. However, I must say that I was never conducting my research with that in mind, but then when it turned out that my discoveries qualified me for the Nobel Prize, and I was chosen to receive this honor, and I went to Sweden with my wife, Helen, for the Nobel ceremony, it was of course an emotional experience. I met many of my relatives there, on both my mother’s and father’s side. My mother was born in Sweden and my father’s parents were born in Sweden, and it was quite an experience. I responded to the toast that is given to the Nobel Prize winners — and each one is supposed to respond individually — I responded in Swedish, and you should have seen the King of Sweden sitting in front of me! He was just sitting there thinking, “Well, here’s another ceremony. Here’s another dinner.” When I began speaking in Swedish, he just jumped up about a foot and turned around and looked at me, and I had his attention for the whole response, which I did in Swedish. Then the next day on the front pages of the Stockholm papers the headline said, of course in Swedish that I’ll translate here, “Seaborg responded in the clinging — <em>klingende</em> they call it — the “ringing” I guess it would be better to say — “the ringing dialect of Dalarna.” Dalarna is the district in Sweden where my mother was born. And of course, she had communicated with me in her Swedish, the dialect of Dalarna, and I had no knowledge that I was speaking a very strong dialect. Of course that’s the Swedish that I used when I responded to the toast. But of course, the Swedish people in the city hall, where this dinner took place following the Nobel ceremony, immediately detected this strong dialect.</p> <p><strong>Was your mother alive to see you go back to Sweden?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: Yes. I didn’t bring her along, I wish I had now, in retrospect; my mother and father were both alive. My children were very small when I received the Nobel Prize, at a rather tender age back in 1951, when my oldest child Peter was five years old and there were three below him, Lynne, David, and Stephen. Stephen was only about three months old. We left them with friends and under the care of a babysitter and it turned out all right. But it was a bit of a problem to leave four small children like that, their mother to leave them for several weeks at that time in their lifetime.</p> <p><strong>If you were a young scientist today and you were just starting, what would be the most exciting field to go into?</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: That’s easy to answer, biological science. When I was entering, I wasn’t even interested in biology, but now we’ve reached the point where we can make discoveries in the biological sciences that will have a tremendous influence on the treatment and cure of disease, the understanding of the life process. Perhaps even the creation of life itself. So for example, the human genome project. That’s to understand all of the genes and the whole functioning of the human body that is now being undertaken. A multi-million-dollar project for which there’s a feeling that it can lead to a tremendous control over disease and so forth. I would say very definitely biology and the life sciences would be the most exciting. But I don’t want to denigrate physics and chemistry and the other areas. There’s still a good deal to be discovered there, and many important discoveries from the standpoint of contributions to human welfare in those fields as well. I’m just putting biology number one. That doesn’t mean that chemistry and physics and the other areas are not interesting and worth entering as well.</p> <p><strong>You have pictures on your wall with presidents, other politicians, with famous people of all walks of life, but you were calling my attention to one in particular here a moment ago.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: I have a picture with Ann-Margaret. We were chosen the co-recipients of the Great Swedish Heritage Award of the Swedish Council of America in 1984. I also have a picture with Shirley Temple. She was the chairman of the Commonwealth Club of California where I was a speaker. I also have a picture with Jinx Falkenburg, who you may not remember — that was about 30 years ago. She was a tennis star who went into television with her husband, Tex McCrary. This was all in the line of duty of course. I have an interesting story to tell about the picture with Ann-Margaret. I brought that home to my wife, Helen, an extra copy, and I said, “Would you go out and get this framed so we can have this at home?” Weeks passed — one week passed with no picture frame, two weeks, three weeks and so forth. I finally said, “Helen, what has happened here? What happened to this picture of me and Ann-Margaret that you were going to take out and get framed?” She said, “Didn’t you know, they quit framing pictures.” So it hasn’t been framed yet.</p> <p><strong>It sounds like Helen got the last word.</strong></p> <p>Glenn Seaborg: She did. She’s got control. I don’t know where that picture is now — but as you say, one is here on the wall in my office.</p> <p><strong>Well thank you for your time. We really appreciate it.</strong></p> </div>  </aside>  <div class="read-more__toggle collapsed" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#full-interview"><a href="#" class="sans-4 btn">Read full interview</a></div> </article> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane fade" id="gallery" role="tabpanel"> <section class="isotope-wrapper">  <header class="toolbar toolbar--gallery bg-white clearfix"> <div class="col-md-6"> <div class="serif-4">Glenn T. Seaborg, Ph.D. Gallery</div> </div> <div class="col-md-6 text-md-right isotope-toolbar"> <ul class="list-unstyled list-inline m-b-0 text-brand-primary sans-4"> <li class="list-inline-item" data-filter=".photo"><i class="icon-icon_camera"></i>37 photos</li> </ul> </div> </header> <div class="isotope-gallery isotope-box single-achiever__gallery clearfix"> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66052631578947" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/XBD9903-00377-22.jpg" data-image-caption="Easter 1941: Glenn Seaborg, enlisted for war work, standing in front of a plane on a runway in Washington, D.C." data-image-copyright="XBD9903-00377-22.TIF" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/XBD9903-00377-22-380x251.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/XBD9903-00377-22-760x502.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.86052631578947" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/XBD9704-01422.jpg" data-image-caption="1946: Ernest Lawrence, Glenn T. Seaborg, and J. Robert Oppenheimer at the controls to the magnet of the 184-inch cyclotron, which was being converted from its wartime use to its original purpose as a cyclotron." data-image-copyright="XBD9704-01422.TIF" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/XBD9704-01422-380x327.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/XBD9704-01422-760x654.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.2459016393443" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg_in_lab-DOE_0.jpeg" data-image-caption="Glenn Seaborg in his lab." data-image-copyright="Glenn Seaborg in his lab." data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg_in_lab-DOE_0-305x380.jpeg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg_in_lab-DOE_0-610x760.jpeg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.65657894736842" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/WP-Seaborg-Glenn-and-Linowitz-Sol-1.jpg" data-image-caption="" data-image-copyright="wp-seaborg-glenn-and-linowitz-sol" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/WP-Seaborg-Glenn-and-Linowitz-Sol-1-380x250.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/WP-Seaborg-Glenn-and-Linowitz-Sol-1-760x499.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.79868421052632" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/seaborg_glenn_b10.jpg" data-image-caption="Glenn Seaborg in 1951, with the periodic table of elements. (AIP Emilio Segre Visual Archives)" data-image-copyright="seaborg_glenn_b10" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/seaborg_glenn_b10-380x304.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/seaborg_glenn_b10-760x607.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.63552631578947" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U1693201.jpg" data-image-caption="1971: Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, presides over a public hearing at the AEC hearing room in Washington, D.C. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)" data-image-copyright="seaborg-glenn-corbis-u1693201" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U1693201-380x242.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U1693201-760x483.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66447368421053" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U1456203.jpg" data-image-caption="1965: At a White House ceremony, AEC Chairman Glenn Seaborg applauds as President Lyndon B. Johnson presents the Enrico Fermi Award to Vice Admiral Hyman Rickover for his leadership in the development of the nuclear submarine. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)" data-image-copyright="seaborg-glenn-corbis-u1456203" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U1456203-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U1456203-760x505.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.005291005291" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U1280494.jpg" data-image-caption="February 16, 1961: President John F. Kennedy and Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Chairman Glenn Seaborg, following the president's visit to the AEC headquarters in Germantown, Maryland. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)" data-image-copyright="seaborg-glenn-corbis-u1280494" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U1280494-378x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U1280494-756x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.78552631578947" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U10576INP.jpg" data-image-caption="1947: The General Advisory Committee to the United States Atomic Energy Commission meets for the first time at the War Department in Washington, D.C. From left to right (seated): Professor Enrico Fermi, University of Chicago; Professor Glenn Seaborg, University of California; Hartley Rowe, Vice President, United Fruit Company; James B. Conant, President, Harvard University; (standing in back): Hood Worthington, chemical engineer, E.I. Dupont and Company; Cyril Stanley Smith, University of Chicago; and Professor I. I. Rabi, Columbia University. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)" data-image-copyright="seaborg-glenn-corbis-u10576inp" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U10576INP-380x298.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-U10576INP-760x597.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.67105263157895" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-RR029586.jpg" data-image-caption="In 1980, Glenn Seaborg displays one of the cigar boxes in which he and his colleagues stored the first samples of plutonium-239. The cigar boxes were provided by his fellow chemist, G. N. Lewis. (© Roger Ressmeyer/CORBIS)" data-image-copyright="seaborg-glenn-corbis-rr029586" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-RR029586-380x255.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-RR029586-760x510.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.003963011889" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-IHI35547.jpg" data-image-caption="Glenn Seaborg in the 1990s, with the periodic table of elements. He is pointing to the element seaborgium, named in his honor. (© Roger Ressmeyer/CORBIS)" data-image-copyright="seaborg-glenn-corbis-ihi35547" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-IHI35547-380x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-IHI35547-757x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.2561983471074" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-BE042829.jpg" data-image-caption="1951: Glenn T. Seaborg with the periodic table of elements he revised. In 1940, Seaborg, in collaboration with Edwin McMillan, Joseph Kennedy, and Arthur Wahl, isolated plutonium (element 94). In 1941, he isolated Uranium-233 and established thorium's nuclear fuel potential. Between 1944 and 1958, Seaborg identified eight elements – americium (95), curium (96), berkelium (97), californium (98), einsteinium (99), fermium (100), mendelevium (101), and nobelium (102). Element 106, seaborgium, bears his name. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)" data-image-copyright="seaborg-glenn-corbis-be042829" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-BE042829-303x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn-Corbis-BE042829-605x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3475177304965" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn434.jpg" data-image-caption="1990s: Glenn T. Seaborg, in his office at Berkeley, California. Seaborg advised ten presidents, from Franklin D. Roosevelt through George H. W. Bush." data-image-copyright="seaborg-glenn434" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn434-282x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Seaborg-Glenn434-564x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3286713286713" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-019.jpg" data-image-caption="1964: The Seaborg family in their Washington, D.C. home. From left to right: Lynne Seaborg, Dianne Seaborg, Peter Seaborg, David Seaborg, Stephen Seaborg (in front of David), Eric Seaborg, Glenn T. Seaborg, and Helen L. Seaborg. (Photo by Fabian Bachrach, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)" data-image-copyright="sea0-019" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-019-286x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-019-572x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.78026315789474" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-018.jpg" data-image-caption="Glenn T. Seaborg in Room 307 of Gilman Hall, where he first discovered plutonium in 1941. (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)" data-image-copyright="sea0-018" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-018-380x296.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-018-760x593.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.2140575079872" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-017.jpg" data-image-caption="1951: Glenn T. Seaborg and his colleague, Edwin M. McMillan. They shared the year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry. (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)" data-image-copyright="sea0-017" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-017-313x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-017-626x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.2218649517685" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-016.jpg" data-image-caption="February 21, 1966: Glenn T. Seaborg (R) with his former student, Arthur C. Wahl (L), in Room 307 of Gilman Hall at Berkeley. Wahl was assisting Seaborg when they discovered plutonium in this very room in 1941. (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)" data-image-copyright="sea0-016" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-016-311x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/sea0-016-622x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.525" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Operation_Crossroads_Baker_Edit.jpg" data-image-caption="July 25, 1946: Mushroom-shaped cloud and water column from the underwater Baker nuclear explosion. The photo was taken from a tower on Bikini Island, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) away. Operation Crossroads was a series of two nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. They were the first nuclear weapon tests since Trinity in July 1945, and the first detonations of nuclear devices since the atomic bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. The purpose of the tests was to investigate the effect of nuclear weapons on warships." data-image-copyright="operation_crossroads_baker_edit" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Operation_Crossroads_Baker_Edit-380x200.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Operation_Crossroads_Baker_Edit-760x399.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.76578947368421" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/NNSA-NSO-403.jpg" data-image-caption="Glenn T. Seaborg during Operation Plumbbob. Operation Plumbbob was a series of nuclear tests conducted between May 28 and October 7, 1957, at the Nevada Test Site, following Project 57, and preceding Project 58/58A. It was the biggest, longest, and most controversial test series in the continental United States. The operation consisted of 29 explosions, of which only two did not produce any nuclear yield. Twenty-one laboratories and government agencies were involved. While most Operation Plumbbob tests contributed to the development of warheads for intercontinental and intermediate range missiles, they also tested air defense and anti-submarine warheads with smaller yields. They included forty-three military effects tests on civil and military structures, radiation and bio-medical studies, and aircraft structural tests. Operation Plumbbob had the tallest tower tests to date in the U.S. nuclear testing program, as well as high-altitude balloon tests. One nuclear test involved the largest troop maneuver ever associated with U.S. nuclear testing." data-image-copyright="nnsa-nso-403" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/NNSA-NSO-403-380x291.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/NNSA-NSO-403-760x582.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.79868421052632" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/nixon.jpg" data-image-caption="February 27, 1970: President Richard Nixon and Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg presenting the Atomic Pioneers Award to Dr. Vannevar Bush in the president's office at the White House." data-image-copyright="nixon" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/nixon-380x303.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/nixon-760x607.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.1949685534591" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Nagasakibomb.jpg" data-image-caption="August 9, 1945: Mushroom cloud above Nagasaki, Japan after the atomic bombing. The atomic bomb dropped had a plutonium core. (Charles Levy from one of the B-29 Superfortresses used in the attack. National Archives image.) " data-image-copyright="nagasakibomb" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Nagasakibomb-318x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Nagasakibomb-636x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/MSRE_U-233_Seaborg_speaking_14458446142.jpg" data-image-caption="October 10, 1968: Startup of MSRE with U-233, with Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Glenn Seaborg, speaking in Oak Ridge. (DOE photo by Frank Hoffman)" data-image-copyright="msre_u-233_seaborg_speaking_14458446142" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/MSRE_U-233_Seaborg_speaking_14458446142-380x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/MSRE_U-233_Seaborg_speaking_14458446142-760x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.003963011889" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/MSRE_U-233_Seaborg_14480987473.jpg" data-image-caption="1968: AEC Chairman Seaborg at the MSRE controls for startup with U-233. The Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) was an experimental molten salt reactor at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) researching this technology through the 1960s; constructed by 1964, it went critical in 1965 and was operated until 1969." data-image-copyright="msre_u-233_seaborg_14480987473" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/MSRE_U-233_Seaborg_14480987473-380x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/MSRE_U-233_Seaborg_14480987473-757x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.81578947368421" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Left_to_right_Dixy_Lee_Ray_1914-1994_and_Glenn_Theodore_Seaborg_1912-1999_6891627661.jpg" data-image-caption="September 17, 1968: Glenn T. Seaborg with marine biologist Dixy Lee Ray. Dr. Ray was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon to the atomic commission in 1972, and served as chairwoman from 1973 to 1975. She served as the 17th Governor of Washington State from 1977–1981." data-image-copyright=""Dr. Dixy Lee Ray, director of the Pacific Science Center, and Ed Westcott, AEC (Atomic Energy Commission)"" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Left_to_right_Dixy_Lee_Ray_1914-1994_and_Glenn_Theodore_Seaborg_1912-1999_6891627661-380x310.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Left_to_right_Dixy_Lee_Ray_1914-1994_and_Glenn_Theodore_Seaborg_1912-1999_6891627661-760x620.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.99342105263158" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/JFKWHP-KN-C20689.jpg" data-image-caption="March 1962: President John F. Kennedy visits the Lawrence Berkeley Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. L-R: Director of the Lawrence Livermore Radiation Laboratory, Dr. John S. Foster, Jr.; Director of the Lawrence Berkeley Radiation Laboratory, Dr. Edwin M. McMillan; Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Glenn T. Seaborg; President Kennedy; co-founder of the Lawrence Livermore Radiation Laboratory, Dr. Edward Teller. Berkeley, California. (Robert Knudsen. White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston)" data-image-copyright="KN-C20689" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/JFKWHP-KN-C20689-380x377.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/JFKWHP-KN-C20689-760x755.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.97894736842105" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/JFKWHP-KN-C20687.jpg" data-image-caption="March 1962: President John F. Kennedy visits the Lawrence Berkeley Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. L-R: Director of the Lawrence Livermore Radiation Laboratory, Dr. John S. Foster, Jr.; Director of the Lawrence Berkeley Radiation Laboratory, Dr. Edwin M. McMillan; Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Glenn T. Seaborg; President Kennedy; co-founder of the Lawrence Livermore Radiation Laboratory, Dr. Edward Teller. Berkeley, California. (Robert Knudsen. White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston)" data-image-copyright="KN-C20687" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/JFKWHP-KN-C20687-380x372.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/JFKWHP-KN-C20687-760x744.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.78684210526316" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/JFKWHP-AR7604-B.jpg" data-image-caption="November 1962: President John F. Kennedy looks at a plexiglass model replica of Chicago Pile-1, the nuclear reactor used in the original Enrico Fermi experiment, as part of the Manhattan Project in 1942. Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg, stands at left. West Wing Colonnade, White House, Washington, D.C.( Abbie Rowe. White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston)" data-image-copyright="AR7604-B" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/JFKWHP-AR7604-B-380x299.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/JFKWHP-AR7604-B-760x598.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.78947368421053" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/JFKWHP-AR7446-B.jpg" data-image-caption="August 1962: President John F. Kennedy stands with members of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), during the swearing-in ceremony for AEC Commissioners James T. Ramey and John G. Palfrey. Left to right: newly-appointed AEC Commissioners John G. Palfrey and James T. Ramey; Chairman of the AEC Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg; President Kennedy; AEC Commissioner Dr. Leland J. Haworth. Cabinet Room, White House, Washington, D.C. (Abbie Rowe. White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston)" data-image-copyright="jfkwhp-ar7446-b" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/JFKWHP-AR7446-B-380x300.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/JFKWHP-AR7446-B-760x600.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.78289473684211" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/JFKWHP-AR7446-A.jpg" data-image-caption="August 1962: President John F. Kennedy stands with members of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), during the swearing-in ceremony for AEC Commissioners James T. Ramey and John G. Palfrey. Left to right: newly-appointed AEC Commissioners John G. Palfrey and James T. Ramey; Chairman of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy Representative Chet Holifield (California); Chairman of the AEC Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg; President Kennedy; AEC Commissioner Dr. Leland J. Haworth. Cabinet Room, White House, Washington, D.C. (Abbie Rowe. White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston)" data-image-copyright="jfkwhp-ar7446-a" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/JFKWHP-AR7446-A-380x298.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/JFKWHP-AR7446-A-760x595.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3523131672598" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/img483.jpg" data-image-caption="Glenn T. Seaborg, in the 1990s. Over his head, a picture of himself as Chairman of the AEC, with President Johnson. (Courtesy of Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg)" data-image-copyright="img483" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/img483-281x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/img483-562x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.79868421052632" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/HD.3F.133_11237959746.jpg" data-image-caption="1962: Edward Teller accepting the Enrico Fermi Award presented by Glenn T. Seaborg and President John F. Kennedy. The award honors scientists of international stature for their lifetime achievement in the development, use, or production of energy. Seaborg received the award in 1959." data-image-copyright="hd-3f-133_11237959746" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/HD.3F.133_11237959746-380x303.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/HD.3F.133_11237959746-760x607.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.78421052631579" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Hanford_B_Reactor.jpg" data-image-caption="The B Reactor at the Hanford site construction — the first plutonium-production reactor." data-image-copyright="hanford_b_reactor" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Hanford_B_Reactor-380x298.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Hanford_B_Reactor-760x596.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.2459016393443" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Glenn_Seaborg_1964.jpg" data-image-caption="1964: Glenn T. Seaborg was chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) from 1961 to 1971." data-image-copyright="glenn_seaborg_1964" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Glenn_Seaborg_1964-305x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Glenn_Seaborg_1964-610x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/434-LB-3-XBD201011-01217tif.jpg" data-image-caption="Cabinet meeting with U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson (center of photo at table with pen to mouth.) Glenn Seaborg (third from left against wall), taken May 13, 1965. Seaborg advised ten U.S. presidents — from Harry S. Truman to Bill Clinton — on nuclear policy and was chairman of the United States Atomic Energy Commission from 1961 to 1971, where he pushed for commercial nuclear energy and the peaceful applications of nuclear science. (Photo credit: Yoichi R. Okamoto/LBJ Library Collection)" data-image-copyright="XBD201011-01217" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/434-LB-3-XBD201011-01217tif-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/434-LB-3-XBD201011-01217tif-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4048059149723" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/1-1025-Argonne.jpg" data-image-caption="Glenn Seaborg (Photo courtesy of Argonne National Laboratory)" data-image-copyright="Glenn Seaborg. Photo courtesy of Argonne National Laboratory." data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/1-1025-Argonne-271x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/1-1025-Argonne-541x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.69736842105263" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-seaborg-hitler-GettyImages-107424684.jpg" data-image-caption="December 11, 1941: Adolf Hitler declares war on the United States. (Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone/Getty)" data-image-copyright="Speech Of Hitler The Day Of War Declaration Against United State In Germany On December 11St 1941" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-seaborg-hitler-GettyImages-107424684-380x265.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-seaborg-hitler-GettyImages-107424684-760x530.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.71447368421053" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-TombaughSeaborgGoldenPlate.jpg" data-image-caption="Awards Council member Dr. Glenn Seaborg presents the Academy's Golden Plate Award to Clyde W. Tombaugh." data-image-copyright="wp-tombaughseaborggoldenplate" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-TombaughSeaborgGoldenPlate-380x272.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-TombaughSeaborgGoldenPlate-760x543.jpg"></div>  </figure>    </div> </section> </div> </div> <div class="container"> <footer class="editorial-article__footer col-md-8 col-md-offset-4"> <div class="editorial-article__next-link sans-3"> <a href="#"><strong>What's next:</strong> <span class="editorial-article__next-link-title">profile</span></a> </div> <ul class="social list-unstyled list-inline ssk-group m-b-0"> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-facebook" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever on Facebook"><i class="icon-icon_facebook-circle"></i></a></li> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-twitter" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever on Twitter"><i class="icon-icon_twitter-circle"></i></a></li>  <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-email" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever via Email"><i class="icon-icon_email-circle"></i></a></li> </ul> <time class="editorial-article__last-updated sans-6">This page last revised on January 6, 2017</time> <div class="sans-4"><a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/how-to-cite" target="_blank">How to cite this page</a></div> </footer> </div> <div class="container interview-related-achievers"> <hr class="m-t-3 m-b-3"/> <footer class="clearfix small-blocks text-xs-center"> <h3 class="m-b-3 serif-3">If you are inspired by this achiever’s story, you might also enjoy:</h3> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever public-service analytical resourceful join-the-military teach-others help-mankind pursue-public-office " data-year-inducted="2002" data-achiever-name="Kissinger"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/henry-kissinger-ph-d/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/kissinger_760_ac-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/kissinger_760_ac-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">Henry A. 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Bezos</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/benazir-bhutto/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Benazir Bhutto</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/keith-l-black/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Keith L. Black, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/elizabeth-blackburn/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Elizabeth Blackburn, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/david-boies-2/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David Boies</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/norman-e-borlaug/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Norman E. Borlaug, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/benjamin-c-bradlee/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Benjamin C. Bradlee</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sergey-brin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sergey Brin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carter-j-brown/"><span class="achiever-list-name">J. Carter Brown</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/linda-buck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Linda Buck, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carol-burnett/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carol Burnett</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/george-h-w-bush/"><span class="achiever-list-name">George H. W. Bush</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/susan-butcher/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Susan Butcher</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-cameron/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Cameron</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/benjamin-s-carson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Benjamin S. Carson, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jimmy-carter/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jimmy Carter</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/johnny-cash/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Johnny Cash</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/francis-s-collins/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/denton-a-cooley/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Denton A. Cooley, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/francis-ford-coppola/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Francis Ford Coppola</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ray-dalio/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ray Dalio</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/olivia-de-havilland/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Olivia de Havilland</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/michael-e-debakey-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Michael E. DeBakey, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/michael-dell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Michael S. Dell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/joan-didion/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Joan Didion</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/rita-dove/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Rita Dove</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sylvia-earle/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sylvia Earle, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/elbaradei/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mohamed ElBaradei</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/gertrude-elion/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Gertrude B. Elion, M.Sc.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/larry-j-ellison/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Larry J. Ellison</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/nora-ephron/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nora Ephron</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/julius-erving/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Julius Erving</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/tony-fadell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Tony Fadell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/paul-farmer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul Farmer, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/suzanne-farrell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Suzanne Farrell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sally-field/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sally Field</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/milton-friedman-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Milton Friedman, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carlos-fuentes/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Fuentes</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/athol-fugard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Athol Fugard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ernest-j-gaines/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ernest J. Gaines</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/william-h-gates-iii/"><span class="achiever-list-name">William H. Gates III</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-gehry/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank O. Gehry</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/vince-gill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Vince Gill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ruth-bader-ginsburg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ruth Bader Ginsburg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/louise-gluck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louise Glück</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/whoopi-goldberg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Whoopi Goldberg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jane-goodall/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Jane Goodall</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/doris-kearns-goodwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Doris Kearns Goodwin, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mikhail-s-gorbachev/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mikhail S. Gorbachev</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/nadine-gordimer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nadine Gordimer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/stephen-jay-gould/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen Jay Gould, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carol-greider-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carol Greider, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-grisham/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Grisham</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/dorothy-hamill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dorothy Hamill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lauryn-hill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lauryn Hill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sir-edmund-hillary/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Edmund Hillary</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/reid-hoffman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Reid Hoffman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/khaled-hosseini/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Khaled Hosseini, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ron-howard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ron Howard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-hume/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Hume</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/louis-ignarro-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louis Ignarro, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/daniel-inouye/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Daniel K. Inouye</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jeremy-irons/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jeremy Irons</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-irving/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Irving</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sir-peter-jackson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Peter Jackson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/donald-c-johanson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Donald C. Johanson, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-m-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank M. Johnson, Jr.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/philip-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Philip C. Johnson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/chuck-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Chuck Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-earl-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Earl Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/quincy-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Quincy Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/thomas-keller-2/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Thomas Keller</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/anthony-m-kennedy/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony M. Kennedy</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/b-b-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">B.B. King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carole-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carole King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/coretta-scott-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Coretta Scott King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/henry-kissinger-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry A. Kissinger, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/willem-j-kolff/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willem J. Kolff, M.D., Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/wendy-kopp/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wendy Kopp</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/henry-r-kravis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry R. Kravis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/nicholas-d-kristof/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nicholas D. Kristof</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mike-krzyzewski/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mike Krzyzewski</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ray-kurzwell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ray Kurzweil</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/eric-lander-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Eric S. Lander, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/robert-s-langer-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert S. Langer, Sc.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/richard-leakey/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Richard E. Leakey</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/robert-lefkowitz-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert J. Lefkowitz, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/congressman-john-r-lewis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Congressman John R. Lewis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/maya-lin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Maya Lin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/george-lucas/"><span class="achiever-list-name">George Lucas</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/norman-mailer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Norman Mailer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/peyton-manning/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peyton Manning</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/wynton-marsalis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wynton Marsalis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-c-mather-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John C. Mather, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/johnny-mathis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Johnny Mathis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/willie-mays/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willie Mays</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-mccourt/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank McCourt</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/david-mccullough/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David McCullough</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/audra-mcdonald/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Audra McDonald</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/admiral-william-h-mcraven/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral William H. McRaven, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/w-s-merwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">W. S. Merwin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-a-michener/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James A. Michener</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/marvin-minsky-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Marvin Minsky, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mario-j-molina-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mario J. Molina, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/n-scott-momaday-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">N. Scott Momaday, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/story-musgrave/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Story Musgrave, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ralph-nader/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ralph Nader</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/peggy-noonan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peggy Noonan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jessye-norman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jessye Norman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/tommy-norris/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lt. Thomas R. Norris, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/joyce-carol-oates/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Joyce Carol Oates</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/pierre-omidyar/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Pierre Omidyar</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/larry-page/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Larry Page</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/arnold-palmer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Arnold Palmer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/rosa-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Rosa Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/suzan-lori-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Suzan-Lori Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/linus-pauling/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Linus C. Pauling, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/shimon-peres/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Shimon Peres</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/general-david-petraeus/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General David H. Petraeus, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sidney-poitier/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sidney Poitier</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/general-colin-l-powell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General Colin L. Powell, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/harold-prince/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Harold Prince</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lloyd-richards/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lloyd Richards</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20170621212712/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sally-ride-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sally K. 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