Glenn Seaborg

Born on 19 April 1912 in Ishpeming, Michigan, Glenn Seaborg was a Nobel laureate, educator, and presidential science adviser who discovered 10 elements heavier than uranium, including one that is named after him. Seaborg earned his AB in chemistry from UCLA in 1934 and his PhD in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1937. He continued working at Berkeley, and in 1941 he and his team discovered element 94, plutonium, which contributed significantly to scientists’ understanding of atomic fission. From 1942 to 1946 Seaborg joined the Manhattan Project at the University of Chicago’s Metallurgical Laboratory, where he worked to isolate plutonium from uranium and scale up its production. Over his career, Seaborg focused on expanding the periodic table, discovering nine more new transuranic elements (atomic numbers 95–102 and 106). Their discovery prompted him to create a new actinide series and propose a realignment of the periodic table, one of the most significant changes since its creation in 1869. For his efforts, Seaborg shared the 1951 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with colleague Edwin McMillan. From 1958 to 1961, Seaborg served as chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley. In 1961 he was appointed chairman of the US Atomic Energy Commission, where he served for the next decade under presidents John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon. Among his accomplishments was the negotiation of a worldwide ban on the atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons and a comprehensive test ban treaty. Seaborg returned to UC Berkeley in 1971, where he continued to teach and perform research. Among the many organizations to which he belonged were the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Chemical Society and served as president for both. In 1997, element 106 was named seaborgium in his honor, the first time a chemical element was named for a living person. Seaborg died at age 86 in 1999 following complications from a stroke. (Photo credit: AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, W. F. Meggers Gallery of Nobel Laureates)

Date in History: 19 April 1912