The Cover . . .
Nobel Prize A w a r d e d to Seaborg a n d McMillan E N t h e Swedish. A c a d e m y of SciW Hence announced tha_t it would m a k e a joint award t o Glenn T. Seaborg and E d w i n M. McMillan " f o r their discoveries in the chemistry of t h e transuranium elements," it w a s easy to think of the two great University of California professors a s coworkers in filling in t h e empty spaces beyond uranium in t h e periodic table. In t h e real sense, however, Seaborg and McMillan w e r e not collaborators—it was more a m a t t e r of M e Lilian doing the initial work a n d making the first discovery—and, after he w a s called away, of Seaborg continuing a n d . extending the project far b e y o n d its original goal. T h e two y o u n g transuranium pioneers have much in common, for they are equally qualified in converting equations from theory into acceptable fact a n d of seeing that processes a n d equipment of their own design becoine realities. To McMillan goes credit f o r the theory of phase stability, which h as extended the energy range of high energy p a r t i c l e accelerators to a point t h a t obsoletes preW o r l d W a r II cyclotrons, which were limited to well below 1O0 M.e.v. A direct result is the bevatron at UC, currently u n d e r construction, and which i s designed to accelerate protons t o 6A billion electron volts. Too, the 184-inch Berkeley cyclotron was redesigned before completion t o employ phase stability, permitting operation at 2 0 0 M.e.v. for deuterons. Seaborg is responsible f o r determining the n a t u r e uf spallation, a rt-ew phenomenon of high energy bombardment. In this process, particles are knocked o u t of heavy nuclei b y ultra-high energy particles from the cyclotron and t h e nuclear debris of t h e b o m b a r d m e n t s reveals radioactive isotopes of common elements that cannot be m a d e in a n y o t h e r way. Among his o t h e r outstanding contributions to science w a s his recognition of the heavy elements a s an aotinide series and his discovery of u r a n i u m 233, a fissionable isotope of thorium. Seaborg, who is 39, i s serious minded but h a s a ready sense o f humor, a n d is just a s adept at playing golf in t h e 90's as h e is in discovering n e w elements i n the same range. He was b o x n in Ishpeming, Mich., but b e c a m e a Californian a t the age of 10. At high school a g e in Los Angeles, h e decided t h a t chemistry and physics were his fields, a n d his scholastic excellence resulted in His being n a m e d valedictorian of his se?nior class. He e a r n e d his full college expenses, getting his A.B. from University of California at Los Angeles in 1934. Three years later, h e received his Ph.D. at Berkeley, his
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Seaborg ( a b o v e ) a n d McMillan (left) receive their Nobel prizes from King Gustav Adolf V I of Sweden
thesis subject describing the inelastic scattering of fast neutrons. In 1939, Seaborg was appointed instructor at t h e University of California; in ' 4 1 , assistant professor; a n d four years later, while on leave at the Metallurgical Laboratory, skipped t h e associate rank to become full professor at Berkeley. H e returned in 1946 to assume his duties in the chemistry department there and to direct chemical research in the university's radiation laboratory. Dr. Seaborg's honors are many. Among them are the ACS a w a r d in pure chemistry, Nichols Medal, a n d the John Ericsson Gold Medal of the American Society of Swedish Engineers. H e is a member of Sigma Xi, American Physical Society, Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Chi Sigma, Phi L a m b d a Upsilon, National Academy of Sciences, Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, American Institute of Chemists, a n d Royal Society of Arts. He has served as councilor-at-large of ACS, m e m b e r of editorial b o a r d of J ACS, and associate editor of Journal of Chemical Physics. H e was also a m e m b e r of t h e General Advisory Committee to t h e A E C . At t h e present time, h e is chairman of t h e Division of Physical a n d Inorganic Chemistry after having progressed through t h e chain of offices of this division. Mountaineer McMillan Before Dr. McMillan allowed his work to b e c o m e his most absorbing hobby, h e became an a m a t e u r mountain climber and scaled t h e Matterhorn a n d Mt. Whitney. He says n o w t h a t when his three children are old e n o u g h to go along, he is going to resume t h e hobby enjoyed in earlier years.
C H E M I C A L
Born in Redondo Beach, Calif., M c Millan received his B.S. and M.S. in physics from California Institute of T e c h nology and his P h . D . at Princeton in 1932. He became a national research fellow at Berkeley in 1932 and t w o years latrr became a research associate on t h e physics staff. By 1946, he was a professor of physics a n d has b e e n a m e m b e r of the staff of t h e radiation laboratory since 1934. W a r research occupied McMillan for the period 1940-45. H e was first at M I T in connection with radar development and later helped develop sonar devices for the Navy. In t h e fall of 1942 h e joined J. Robert Oppenheimer to help organize the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory a n d worked on the b o m b s for both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. McMillan loves teaching, and his colleagues and students deem him an outstanding enlightener. His capacity to present in clear and simple form the complex concepts with which physicists work is well known to his students, w h o corner him at the end of every class to advance additional questions. It has been said that McMillan's biggest hobby is his work and his absorption is so great that he cannot devote a great deal of time to other interests. Nevertheless, he does have many interests outside of physics and finds an excitement in all of nature and her wonders. Because he is modest and retiring, which, however, in no degree indicates that he is shy, McMillan is perhaps not as widely known to the general public as other physical scientists w h o have m a d e great contributions in the past d e c a d e . However, he a n d his works are well known to all scientists. I n 1951, h e r e ceived t h e Research Corp. award "in recognition of t h e vital parts h e h a s played in the greatest achievements in physics of the decade 1940-1950."
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