Product Description
America's greatest twentieth-century scientist tells his own story.

Glenn T. Seaborg (1912-1999) won a Nobel Prize before he was forty. He discovered the element that makes atomic bombs explode and the isotopes used to treat millions of cancer patients. He ran the University of California at Berkeley and advised nine U.S. presidents. Here is his autobiography -- the extraordinary story of a modest Swedish American who never strayed from his strong basic commitments throughout a career that gave him national and international fame. Seaborg's story begins in Michigan with his Scandinavian parents, but shifts quickly to California, where he got himself an education he didn't think he could afford during the dark days of the Depression. During World War II, he led the Manhattan Project group that devised the chemical extraction processes producing plutonium 239. He also shares the drama of scientific discovery and the inner history of his pioneering work on the many transuranium elements he co-discovered at the Radiation Laboratory at Berkeley -- work that earned him the Nobel Prize in 1951. As chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission under three presidents, Seaborg fought for the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty and argued in favor of the peaceful uses and international controls of atomic energy. His is the riveting account of a life like no other -- a model of the best in our nation.
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Customer Reviews (5)

A first-hand personal view of atomic history
I picked up this book, because Dr. Seaborg grew up near my home in South Gate. (Our civic center drive is named for him.) Dr. Seaborg kept a daily journal beginning at age 14, so his recollections are contemporaneous and quite detailed. I found the book a wonderfully personal account of some of the most important events in science and history - splitting the atom, making the bomb, the development of nuclear medicine, cold war nuclear politics, and the rearranging the periodic table. I had previously read Richard Rhodes Pulitzer-winning, "The Making of the Atomic Bomb." This book is a first-hand account of those events, and includes personal reflections on nine U.S. Presidents and many other important historical figures and events. The latter chapters detail his views on nuclear power, nuclear nonproliferation and public science education, including his "Letter to a Young Scientist". Most importantly, I found the book a glowing tribute to California public education at its best and an inspiring call for action in improving science education.

A very human and humanizing book about Seaborg
I liked this book a lot. It reminded me so much of some projects I have worked on in terms of the happenstance and there you are. Seaborg was a kind, sane and good person, and it really comes across in this book.

Such a contrast to so many today, and the politics have become so impenetrable these days. The UC system was nearly new then, it made me really feel how California was bubbling with new and great possibilities 70-50 years ago.

I wish I had met the man. I hope I can be somewhere near as good a man as he was.

From someone in the middle of it.
This was a very interesting book.You got to learn about the guy who was first able to separate plutonium not just a small bit at a time but on an industrial scale at Hanford.The story got me interested in Lawerence and the cyclotron and how some of the newer elements were used like the one they use in smoke detectors.He was an interesting character who tried to work within the system. By the end of the story you can see his democratic leanings because none of the Republican seem to know what they were doing but aside from that it is an interesting story which made me want to know more about nuclear power.I never knew about all the peaceful uses they tried that were explained in this book.This book made me want to know more of what actually happened which is why I read the new Rickover book by Frances Ducan.In his book he mentions Seaborg several times. The book has it's funny parts like when he was chancellor of Berkley how the male students council came to him and ask him to turn one of the dorms into a brothel so the guys could stay on campus and still relief some stress. Seaborg wore a lot of hats and his story coinsides with the times that he lived.This is shown by how he felt about working on the bomb during World War II.At the time Germany had taken most of Europe and Japan was all over China and the Pacific and if he didn't do something to stop them, they would rule the world.It made it seem less of a moral choice than one of survival.

Adventures in the Mind
Adventures in the Atomic Age is a remarkably friendly book.It is Glenn Seaborg's autobiography (completed after his death by his son).He helped develop the atom bomb, won the Nobel Prize and had an element named after him and those are only a few of his many achievements.He also chaired the Atomic Energy Commission, was chancellor of the University of California at Berkeley and was a professor whenever there was a lull in his career.He worked to make science interesting and accessible to the public, especially to students.An idea of how well he succeeded is shown by the fact that this book actually makes the science of the atom bomb intelligible.This is a book that can be read on many levels.It can be simply a history of the atomic age for he was there at the very beginning.It can be a history of the changing political scene during his life.It can also be read simply as the history of a thoroughly decent person.Glenn Seaborg comes across as a nice guy, the sort of person you would want as a next door neighbor, and would definitely want as a teacher.

Find Out Why Element 106 Became Seaborgium And Other Stories
To have an element named for you while you are still alive is the rarest of honors and Adventures In The Atomic Age: From Watts To Washington by Glenn T. Seaborg is the story of a life worthy of that honor.Glenn T. Seaborg takes you on a trip through his life, starting with his boyhood in Michigan and his teen years in South Gate, California.Hard work gets Seaborg to UCLA and continued hard work gets him to UC Berkeley, the place where most of his academic life will take place.Seaborg was student, teacher, researcher, the Golden Bear's biggest fan, and chancellor.Seaborg quietly affected all of our lives as the head of the AEC, and, for the most part, we are better off for his rational leadership of that organization.He served on the committee that wrote the educational report 'A Nation At Risk' and served on the committee that recently reformed California's science curriculum.He is proof that a public education can be excellent and that you get out of your education what you put into it.The people who have heard of Professor Seaborg usually know him as one of the co-discoverers of the element plutonium, but this book should give anyone who reads it a wider view of a rich life.Glenn T. Seaborg is not the household name like J. Robert Oppenheimer or Edward Teller, but hopefully this excellent autobiography will be a step towards making this wonderful scientist and human being more widely known. ... Read more

Product Description
Nobel Laureate Glen T. Seaborg, who worked on the Manhattan Project in his early career, played a key role in U.S. science and arms-control policy and served both as a Presidential Cabinet member and as head of the Atomic Energy Commission. This memoir, filled with photos, anecdotes, and analysis, provides an insider's look at national science policy-making from World War II through the Bush administration. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excelent Autobiography of Glen Seaborg
Annotation This autobiography details the interaction of an eminent scientist, Glenn Seaborg, with the highest levels of government in the U.S. during an important period for both science and public policy.Seaborg worked for each administration from 1946 to 1996.The work is based on meticulous notes that he recorded each day.Much of the material in the chapters consists of unedited excerpts from his personal diary, which are interesting, but often too detailed for general readers.Sections at the end of each chapter contain personal reflections that provide many fascinating insights into the personalities of the nation's leaders.The book also contains numerous photos of Seaborg taken with presidents and other dignitaries. ... Read more