Glen Theodore Seaborg
Seaborg, Glenn Theodore (1912-1999), a United States chemist. Early in his career he helped discover nine chemical elements-the 2nd through 10th transuranium elements (elements heavier than uranium). For his work, Seaborg shared the 1951 Nobel Prize in chemistry with the American physicist Edwin M. McMillan, who helped discover the first two transuranium elements. Seaborg was chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), 1961-71, the first scientist to direct the nation's atomic energy program.
Seaborg was born in Ishpeming, Michigan. After receiving a Ph.D. degree from the University of California (Berkeley) in 1937, he joined its faculty. In 1940-41 Seaborg and his associates discovered the element plutonium and the isotope plutonium 239, which is a source of nuclear energy.
During World War II, Seaborg worked at the University of Chicago on the creation of the atomic bomb. After returning to the University of California, he directed nuclear chemical research at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, 1946-58, and served as university chancellor, 1958-61. During 1944-58, he helped discover eight more elements-americium, curium, berkelium, californium, einsteinium, fermium, mendelevium, and nobelium. In 1959 he received the Fermi Award. Seaborg served for 10 years as chairman of AEC beginning in 1961. He was awarded the 1991 Medal of Science, and in 1997, element 106 was named seaborgium in his honor.