Landmarks of Human Thought I - Catalog - Page 40
Glenn
T.
Seaborg
Methods of
Preparation of
Element 95
U.S. Patent No. 3,044,944
Inducted in 2005
Born April 19, 1912 - Died Feb. 25, 1999
G
lenn T. Seaborg was a central figure in the
effort to develop atomic technology.
The nuclear chemist's best-known achievement was
the synthesis and isolation of the radioactive
element plutonium.
Seaborg spent most of his career at the University
of California in Berkeley, where he stayed on after
completing graduate school. He primarily studied
radioisotopes, the unstable, radioactive forms of
elements. He pioneered the creation of new exotic
isotopes and elements by bombarding materials
with atomic particles in the university's cyclotron
and other particle accelerators, many of which his
research team helped design.
He was one of the most important participants in the
Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic
bomb during World War II. In addition to his work
developing nuclear weapons, he was a pioneer in
the development of nuclear medicine and nuclear
power.
Seaborg was born in Ishpeming, Michigan. He
discovered 10 elements and more than 100
radioisotopes and won the Nobel Prize for
chemistry in 1951. He also held the distinction of
being the only living person to have a new element,
seaborgium, named after him. He was a key figure
in the campaign for nuclear disarmament, an
influential educational reformer, and the first
scientist to head the Atomic Energy Commission.
Reference: National Inventors Hall of Fame (2024, 23. February)
Inductee: Glenn T. Seaborg.
NIHF. https://www.invent.org/inductees/glenn-t-seaborg
