Glenn Seaborg

Lived 1912 to 1999.

Glenn Seaborg took part in the discovery of ten of the periodic tables chemical elements. He was
awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1951.
His work on the electronic structure of elements led to the periodic table being rewritten. He also codiscovered technetium-99m, the most commonly used medical radioisotope in the world.
Element 106 is named seaborgium in his honor.

Early Life and Education

Glenn Theodore Seaborg was born on April 19, 1912, in the small mining town of Ishpeming,
Michigan, USA.
His father Herman Seaborg and mother Selma Olivia Erickson spoke Swedish at home.
At elementary school Glenn Seaborg took no interest in science.
In 1922 the Seaborg family moved to Los Angeles, California. At David Starr Jordan High School,
located in the Watts neighborhood, Glenn Seaborgs interests in chemistry and physics were
awakened by the exhilarating lessons taught by Dwight Logan Reid.
Seaborg graduated from high school at the top of his class, then studied for a chemistry degree at
UCLA, where he graduated in 1933, aged 21.

Four years later he was awarded a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. His
Ph.D. thesis was in the field of nuclear chemistry.
He became fascinated by Otto Hahns work in Germany on radioactive elements. Hahn had
discovered the radioactive isotopes radium-228 and thorium-230 and, with Lisa Meitner, the most
stable form of the new radioactive element protactinium. Hahn went on to win the 1944 Nobel Prize
in Chemistry for his discovery of nuclear fission.

AsayounggraduatestudentIused[OttoHahns]book
AppliedRadiochemistryasmybibleIrecallreadingandrereadingevery
wordmanytimes,attemptingtoderiveeverypossiblebitofguidancefor
ourwork.
GLENNSEABORG

Glenn Seaborgs Scientific Achievements

and Discoveries
After obtaining his Ph.D. from Berkeley, Seaborg continued working there as a nuclear chemist,
taking part in the discovery of dozens of new isotopes.
The isotopes were produced using Berkeleys cyclotrons i.e. particle accelerators.
At the age of 27, in 1939, Seaborg was promoted, becoming a chemistry instructor.

Medical Isotopes
Working with John J. Livingood, Seaborg discovered iodine-131 and cobalt-60: these are crucial
radioisotopes in medical diagnoses and treatments.
In 1938, Seaborg and Emilio Segr discovered technetium-99m, which is the most-used medical
radioisotope ever. It is used it tens of millions of scans every year.

The Discovery of Plutonium

In 1940, Edwin McMillan and Philip Abelson discovered element 93 using the 60-inch cyclotron at
the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Berkeley. They named the new element neptunium, after the
planet Neptune.
Their discovery depended on work Seaborg and his colleagues had carried out to refine a method to
isolate the new radioactive metal.
Soon after his discovery, McMillan diverted his attention to radar research.
Seaborg continued working with the cyclotron in an effort to produce the next undiscovered element,
element 94.
In February 1941 Seaborg led his research team to discover element 94 plutonium. They named
the new element after Pluto, keeping up the theme which began with element 92, uranium (Uranus)
and element 93, neptunium (Neptune).
Plutonium was made by bombarding uranium with hydrogen-2 (heavy hydrogen) nuclei.

The 60-inch cyclotron at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Berkeley.

Seaborg and his coworkers used this particle accelerator to discover five new chemical elements: plutonium,
curium, americium, berkelium, and californium.

A month after discovering plutonium, Seaborgs team discovered that its isotope plutonium-239
could undergo nuclear fission, and therefore could potentially be used in nuclear weapons and
nuclear energy production.
Following his groups discovery of plutonium, Berkeley promoted Seaborg to the position of assistant
professor of chemistry.

Discovering More Elements

After discovering plutonium, Seaborgs team continued working with the 60-inch cyclotron,
discovering curium (in 1944), americium (in 1944), and berkelium (in 1949). Seaborg became a full
professor of chemistry in 1945.
Seaborg co-discovered californium in 1950 and mendelevium in 1955 using the 60-inch cyclotron.
Further, he co-discovered the new elements einsteinium and fermium in the fall out from nuclear
weapons testing in 1952.

Seaborgs work expanded the periodic table significantly: he discovered or took part in the discovery of a
succession of new elements.

Seaborg also worked in the research groups that independently discovered nobelium and
seaborgium, although the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry credits scientists at the
Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia with the first production of these elements.
Except for the discovery of plutonium, Albert Ghiorso was one of Seaborgs co-workers in all of his
element discoveries.

The Atom Bomb

Plutonium produced by Seaborgs teams methods was used to produce the first nuclear weapon ever
detonated: the Trinity Test, July 16, 1945, New Mexico.

As an expert in nuclear chemistry, during World War 2 it was inevitable that Seaborg would be asked
to take part in the Manhattan Project to produce nuclear weapons.
Seaborg moved to Chicago where he led a team of 100 scientists who worked out how to refine
plutonium from uranium and produce it in viable quantities for a plutonium based atomic bomb.

Seaborg was one of the scientists who put their name to the Franck Report, a secret document
requesting that the bomb should not be used as a weapon. The scientists requested that an atomic
explosion should be publicly demonstrated to representatives of other countries, including Japan, in
an attempt to bring about a Japanese surrender. The request was turned down.
The Fat Man bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 was a plutonium
bomb. (The Little Boy bomb dropped three days earlier on Hiroshima was a uranium bomb.)

doIwishthelawsofnatureweresuchthatitwouldnothave
beenpossibletomakenuclearweapons,myansweris:God,yes.
GLENNSEABORG,1985

A New Periodic Table

On the basis of electron structures, in 1944 Seaborg proposed that a new row should be added to
the periodic table. The new row would be placed below the row of elements known as the
lanthanides. The elements in Seaborgs new row would be called the actinides. He was warned that
it would ruin his scientific reputation to publish such a proposal, but he carried on.

Far from professional ruin, Seaborgs proposal resulted in a significant redesign of the periodic table.
The actinide series is now the final row in the standard periodic table, stretching from element 89

(actinium) to element 103 (lawrencium). Within the actinides can be found all of the elements
discovered by Seaborg.

Patents

Seaborg held patents for the production and purification of the element americium. Its use in smoke
detectors provided him with a continuing income.

Between 1954 and 1965 Seaborg was granted a total of 43 patents.

These were mainly for methods of processing and separating radioactive heavy elements.
He also patented methods for producing and separating the element americium.
Royalties from the americium patents provided him with an ongoing income after americium became
a standard part of smoke detectors.

An Island of Stability
Seaborg predicted the existence of heavier elements than the ones he had discovered: elements
which would be very unstable, with half-lives measured in seconds or fractions of seconds.
However, he also predicted some superheavy elements would form an island of stability in the
periodic table, with much longer half-lives than surrounding elements.
He based his idea on the fact that atoms whose nuclear energy shells are filled with as many
neutrons and protons as possible are particularly stable, and some very heavy elements would have
such filled energy shells.

No elements heavy enough to test Seaborgs island of stability hypothesis have been made yet, but
many nuclear scientists would dearly love to achieve this.

alltheoreticalpredictionsareinagreement:superheavy
nucleicanexist.Thus,thesearchforsuperheavynucleiremainsasaunique,
rigoroustestofthepredictivepowerofmoderntheoriesofthestructureof
nuclei.
GLENNSEABORG,1987

Honors
Seaborg was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1951, when he was just 39 years old.
Seaborg shared the prize with Edwin McMillan for their work in discovering elements heavier than
uranium.
Recipients of the prize travel to Swedens capital, Stockholm, to receive their awards. Brought up by
parents who spoke Swedish at home, Seaborg is one of the few Nobel Prize winners who have
given their short speech at the Nobel Banquet in Swedish.
In 1997 the element seaborgium was named in Seaborgs honor; it is the only element ever named
after someone who was still living at the time the name was announced.

Mostofmyscientificworkhasbeenbasicresearch.Therewere
noimmediateusesformydiscoveries,buttodaytheradioisotopesarethe
workhorsesofnuclearmedicine,anisotopeofplutoniumisamajorenergy
sourceinthespaceprogram,andtheelementamericiumiscriticaltothe
smokedetectorsineveryhouseinthecountry.

GLENNSEABORG

Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

From 1961 to 1971 Seaborg chaired the Atomic Energy Commission. In this role he helped negotiate
the Limited Test Ban Treaty securing the agreement of the US, UK, and USSR in banning aboveground testing of nuclear weapons.

Record Breaker
Seaborgs achievements and activities thrust his name into the Guinness Book of World Records, for
taking up the most space in Whos Who in America: more than any actor, sports star or even
politician!

The End
Glenn Seaborg died aged 86 on February 25, 1999, in Lafayette, California.
He was survived by his wife, Helen Griggs Seaborg, and three sons and two daughters.