Glenn Theodore Seaborg

Autobiography of Nobel Prize winner, Glenn Seaborg.

Glenn T. Seaborg is world famous for his work on the chemistry of the synthetic transuranium elements, for which he shared a Nobel prize in 1951. In 1997, he was honored by having element 106, seaborgium, named after him. Seaborg served as an adviser to 10 presidents, beginning with Franklin D. Roosevelt. He knew most of these presidents personally, often on a first-name basis. In this book he gives us an insider's look at national policy-making at the highest levels of government. In this "cruise down memory lane", Seaborg draws heavily from his own daily diary to provide first-hand accounts of his years advising presidents. He gives us an important look at the evolution of national arms control, science, education, and nuclear policies.

This book chronicles on a day-to-day basis the astounding story of the discovery of plutonium and the feverish activities to unlock its secrets and enhance its productivity to the levels necessary for the building of an atomic bomb in World War II by its discoverer, Professor Glenn T. Seaborg. Seaborg, who shared the 1951 nobel Prize in Chemistry with his colleague Edwin T. McMillan, was a meticulous diarist whose detailed records of thousands of pages have been edited and supplied with accompanying notes by a trio consisting of a professional scientist with a strong interest in history and two professional historians of science. The work provides not only the step by step description of the scientific activities and the thought processes of Seaborg and his team throughout the war years, but also gives keen insight into the operation of the Manhattan District and of the scientists who played an important role in its functions. Virtually all of the players are identified in the annotations, which also serve to explain the significance of key events and findings as well as obscure or arcane scientific procedures. The professional chemist or nuclear scientist will find this an exciting and compelling saga of a great scientific discovery, carried out in a bygone era of unfettered and productive science that is not likely to occur again. The copious annotations and identifications not only add to the story, but make this a vital and necessary reading and reference source not only for the historian of science, but for those interested in the behind the scenes history of World War II and the Manhattan District.

In this revealing book, Nobel Laureate Glenn T. Seaborg tells what it was like to be chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission during the Nixon presidency. As in his two other highly-praised historical books (Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Test Ban and Stemming the Tide: Arms Control in the Johnson Years), Dr. Seaborg draws extensively from his meticulously kept diary, enabling the reader to be a fly on the wall during meetings with Nixon, Henry Kissinger, and other key policy makers. During the Nixon period, the debate over how to deal with the Soviets on nuclear issues and arms control remained central. On the domestic scene, efforts to promote and regulate the growth of a nuclear power industry were complicated by a rising tide of environmental protest. Dr. Seaborg described how the Atomic Energy Commission, shorn of much of the political immunity of its early years, sought to maintain its programs and ultimately its very existence, while besieged by competing pressures from the White House, other government agencies, antinuclear activists, industry, state governments, and Congress. The Atomic Energy Commission Under Nixon provides valuable information and insights for those interested in nuclear matters, in the governing style and personality of Richard Nixon, and in how the U.S. government functions and fails to function.

The science of chemistry with the periodic table as a unifying theme.