![]() McMillan received his master's degree in physics from Cal Tech in 1929. Graduating with a degree in physics in 1928, Dr. While an undergraduate at Cal Tech, he wrote a scientific paper on X-rays with an assistant professor named Linus Pauling. As a youth, he attended public lectures at the nearby California Institute of Technology. When he was a year old, his family moved to Pasadena, Calif., where he became interested in physics. He also was a public voice for nuclear arms limitations.Įdwin Mattison McMillan was born Sept. He was a member of the general advisory board of the Atomic Energy Commission from 1954 to 1958 and a trustee of Rand Corp. Over the years, he also was affiliated with the university's Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, serving as assistant director from 1954 to 1958, then as lab director from 1958 to 1973. He was named a full professor of physics in 1945 and retired as professor emeritus in 1973. McMillan began his career at Berkeley as a research fellow in 1932. Their work in "phase stability," which led to the synchrotron, also made the giant linear accelerators of today possible.ĭr. Veksler, who had done similar work independently. He shared it with Soviet physicist Vladimir I. In 1963, for his work on the synchrotron, he was named co-winner of the Atoms for Peace Award. ![]() This new tool made it possible for scientists to do research that led to the discovery of new atomic particles and antimatter. ![]() McMillan returned to Berkeley, where he had done research since the early 1930s, and developed what became the synchrotron, a high-energy accelerator that was a dramatic improvement on the cyclotron. That work resulted in the discovery of plutonium (element 94), a crucial ingredient in the manufacture of atomic weapons and the operation of nuclear power plants.Īfter wartime scientific work for the government, Dr. McMillan were awarded the prize for work in the 1930s and early 1940s discovering and isolating "transuranium" elements - synthetic elements beyond uranium (element 92) on the periodic table. Seaborg, noted that the two had been friends and colleagues since 1934, and added that "his important and versatile scientific contributions spanning physics, chemistry and engineering, and his great human qualities, form an important chapter in the history of science." Upon learning of his death, his Nobel co-winner, Glenn T. McMillan, 84, a professor emeritus of physics at the University of California at Berkeley who was a co-winner of the 1951 Nobel Prize for chemistry, died Sept.
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