西堡格

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Seaborg, Glenn (Theodore)

美国核化学家。在加州大学柏克莱分校获得硕士学位。他和利文古德(John Livingood)、塞格雷(Emilio Segre)以及其他人一起研究发现了一百多种同位素,包括许多经考证很重要的同位素,如碘-131、鎝-99。但是他最有名的成就是对超铀元素的分离和辨识工作。1941年他和他的同事发现了钸。此後继续发现和分离一些元素如鋂、锔、、鉲、鑀、镄、钔、(原子序为95~102)。1942年他参加了「曼哈顿计画」,并在研制原子弹中起了关键性的作用。他曾请求杜鲁门总统不要把平民当作原子弹的目标,但最终失败。1951年他与麦克米伦(E. M. McMillan, 1907~1991)共获诺贝尔化学奖。他提出的一项重要的组织原则,即关於锕系过渡元素的重要理念,对於预测新元素的化学性质和在元素周期表上的配置位置有极大的作用。1961~1971年西堡格担任原子能委员会主席。他强烈呼吁核子裁军,领导了谈判最後达成「限制核子试验条约」(1963),後来又在通过「禁止核子武器扩散条约」中扮演积极的角色。1997年一种新发现的元素以他的名字命名,即106号元素(seaborgium),这是首度给予在世者如此高的尊荣。

1912~1999年

Seaborg, Glenn (Theodore)

U.S. nuclear chemist. Born to Swedish parents in Ishpeming, Mich., he pursued graduate study at UC-Berkeley. Working with John Livingood, Emilio Segré, and others, he discovered some 100 isotopes, including many that would prove to be of major importance, such as iodine-131 and technetium-99. However, his best-known work would involve the isolation and identification of transuranium elements. In 1941 he and his colleagues discovered plutonium. He went on to discover and isolate the elements americum, curium, berkelium, californium, einsteinium, fermium, mendelevium, and nobelium (atomic numbers 95-102). He joined the Manhattan Project in 1942 and was instrumental in the development of the atomic bomb, which he pleaded unsuccessfully with Pres. Truman not to use on civilian targets. He shared a 1951 Nobel Prize with Edwin Mattison McMillan (1907-1991). Prediction of new elements' chemical properties and placement in the periodic table was helped greatly by an important organizing principle enunciated by Seaborg, the actinide concept. He served as head of the Atomic Energy Commission 1961-71. A strong advocate of nuclear disarmament, he led the negotiations that eventuated in the Limited Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (1963) and later played a leading role in the passage of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. In 1997 his name was given to the new element seaborgium, the first time a living person had been so honored.