Edwin Mattison McMillan - American nuclear physicist

Edwin McMillan was born on September 18, 1907, in Redondo Beach, California. His parents, Dr. Edwin Harbaugh McMillan and Anne Marie McMillan (née Mattison), hailed from Maryland and had ancestral roots in England and Scotland.

McMillan pursued his higher education at the California Institute of Technology, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1928. He then continued his academic journey at Princeton University, successfully completing his Ph.D. in 1932.

During his doctoral studies, McMillan focused on molecular beams and conducted research as a National Research Fellow, aiming to measure the magnetic moment of the proton using a molecular beam method.

In 1934, McMillan joined the Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, working under the guidance of Ernest Lawrence. There, he engaged in research related to nuclear reactions and their outcomes, contributing to the design and construction of cyclotrons and other scientific equipment. He began his teaching career at Berkeley as an Instructor in the Department of Physics in 1935, steadily advancing to Assistant Professor in 1936, Associate Professor in 1941, and ultimately becoming a Professor in 1946.

Throughout World War II, McMillan conducted research on radar and sonar and played a significant role in the development of the first atomic bomb. From 1954 to 1958, he served as a member of the General Advisory Committee to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.

In 1940, McMillan employed a particle accelerator to irradiate uranium with neutrons, successfully generating an element with an atomic number of 93. This groundbreaking achievement marked the first artificial creation of a transuranium element. McMillan named the newly discovered element "neptunium." In 1941, together with Glenn Seaborg, Joseph W. Kennedy, and Arthur Wahl, he successfully isolated another new element with an atomic number of 94. Adhering to McMillan's practice of naming element 93 after a planet, Seaborg christened element 94 "plutonium."

In 1942, McMillan contributed to the selection process for Los Alamos and relocated there to conduct research on implosion techniques.

In recognition of their remarkable contributions to the field of transuranium elements, Edwin M. McMillan and Glenn T. Seaborg were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1951.

While collaborating with his colleagues, McMillan and his team also produced a second new element. However, as McMillan shifted his focus to radar development during World War II, others were responsible for confirming the discovery of this element. Seaborg led the group that accomplished this task and named the new element "plutonium," following the tradition of naming elements after planets.

After the passing of Ernest O. Lawrence in 1958, McMillan assumed the role of director of the laboratory, which he held until his retirement in 1973. In recognition of his significant contributions, McMillan was awarded the National Medal of Science in the year preceding his death in 1991.

Edwin M. McMillan passed away on September 7, 1991.
Edwin Mattison McMillan - American nuclear physicist

Ernest Rutherford: Father of nuclear physics

Ernest Rutherford was born on 30th August 1871 at a small town called Bridgewater near Nelson, New Zealand.

His father, James was a Scottish wheelwright and engineer who had emigrated from Perth, Scotland, and his mother, Martha Thomson, was an English school teacher from Essex, England. Ernest Rutherford grew up in a large family; he was the fourth child in a family with 12 children.

In 1893 Ernest graduated with an M.A. with double first-class honors, first in Mathematics and Mathematical Physics then in Physical Sciences from the University of New Zealand in Wellington and gained a B.Sc.

He researched magnetism and radio wave detection for 2 years before he was awarded a prestigious “1851 Exhibition Scholarship” to work as a research student at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, under J.J. Thomson. While working under J. J. Thomson, Rutherford began a lot of work in radioactivity, using X-rays from radioactive atoms discovered in 1896. In 1898, Rutherford discovered alpha and beta rays in uranium radiation.

In 1898 at the age of 26 he took up a chair at McGill University, Montreal, where he worked till 1907. During 9 years at McGill University in Canada he explained radioactivity as the natural transmutation of atoms, discovered radon, and dated the age of the Earth.

He moved back to the UK, to accept the Langworthy Professorship at Manchester University, where he carried out his most famous work, where he discovered the nuclear structure of atoms, and became the first person to split an atom.

In 1904 Rutherford published his first book Radioactivity and in 1908 received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry ‘for his investigations into the disintegration of the elements and the chemistry of radioactive substances’.

Rutherford published his model of the atom in 1911 as an interpretation of the α-scattering work carried out by Geiger and Marsden two years earlier. He was knighted in New Year Honors of 1914.

After his death on 19 October 1937, he was buried in Westminster Abbey near Sir Isaac Newton.
Ernest Rutherford: Father of nuclear physics