Edwin McMillan
(Edwin Mattison McMillan; Redondo Beach, 1907-El Cerrito, 1991) American nuclear physicist and chemist.Trained at the California Institute of Technology, McMillan received his doctorate from Princeton University in 1932.In 1946 he achieved a teaching position at the University of California, on the Berkeley campus.
Edwin McMillan
In the development of his studies on the fission of the atomic nucleus, he discovered neptunium, one of the decay products of the isotope 239 of uranium.In 1940, in collaboration with Philip H.Abelson, he succeeded in isolating this new element, the first belonging to the series of transurans in the periodic table, of particular importance in nuclear energy.
During World War II, McMillan collaborated in the improvement of sonar and spy radars, and participated in the manufacture of the first atomic bomb.In 1945 he managed to overcome the theoretical limits of the speeds of accelerated particles in a cyclotron and, independently of the Russian scientist Vladimir Veksler, he found a way to maintain synchronization for indefinite speeds.
From 1954 to 1958 he was part of the United States government commission for the study of atomic energy and, in 1958, he was appointed director of the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, from where he launched several investigations.He also presided over the American National Academy of Sciences, between 1968 and 1971.
McMillan bet throughout his career for the progress of atomic energy and for its possible applications a posteriori .In recognition of his scientific work, he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with his compatriot Glenn T.Seaborg, in the 1951 edition.He retired from academia in 1973 and, in 1976, published a memoir entitled Early days in the Lawrence Laboratory ( The first days in the Lawrence Laboratory ).A large part of his scientific theories were reflected in the collective work Lecture in nuclear physics ( Conferences on nuclear physics ), published in 1947.His work should also be mentioned The synchrotron.Proposal for a high-energy particle accelerator .
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