EDWIN MCMILLAN, 83; WON NOBEL
AS CODISCOVERER OF PLUTONIUM
Author: Associated Press
Date: Monday, September 9, 1991
Page: 23
Section: OBITUARY
EL CERRITO, Calif. -- Edwin M. McMillan, a codiscoverer of plutonium who
worked on the World War II project that developed the atomic bomb and was
awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1951, has died. He was 83.
He died at his home Saturday after a long illness.
Mr. McMillan, a physicist who retired in 1973 as head of the University of
California's Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, last year was awarded the National
Medal of Science, the nation's highest award for scientific achievement.
He and nuclear chemist Glenn Seaborg won the Nobel Prize for their
codiscovery of plutonium, or element 94. The radioactive element found in 1940
is essential for atomic bombs. Mr. McMillan also discovered neptunium, or
element 93, the first transuranic element heavier than uranium.
Mr. McMillan also was a pioneer in the theory of phase stability, a concept
that made giant modern linear accelerators possible. For that work, he shared
the 1963 Atoms for Peace prize with Soviet scientist V. I. Veksler.
During World War II, Mr. McMillan helped develop radar and sonar devices
for the Navy before working on the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, N.M., that
produced the world's first atomic bomb.
Although he helped create nuclear weapons, he also had doubts about
controlling them.
"This country has in its hands some incredibly powerful weapons," he said.
"The way our government deals with the question of nuclear disarmament is
shameful -- a disgrace to our nation."
Mr. McMillan was also a major contributor to the development of the
cyclotron, or atom smasher, used in the study of subatomic physics.
He became head of the Berkeley laboratory in 1958.
He leaves his wife, Elsie, a daughter, two sons, and three grandchildren.
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