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Glenn T. Seaborg – Photo gallery

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1 (of 2) Glenn T. Seaborg standing in front of the Periodic Table with the Ion Exchanger illusion column of Actnide Elements, May 19, 1950.

Photo courtesy of Berkeley Lab

Helen and Glenn Seaborg with Manne Siegbahn 1951

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2 (of 2) Chemistry laureate Glenn T. Seaborg (middle) and his wife Helen converse with physics laureate Manne Siegbahn during the Nobel Week in Stockholm, Sweden, 9 December 1951.

Photographer unknown. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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Glenn T. Seaborg – Banquet speech

Glenn T. Seaborg’s speech at the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm, December 10, 1951 (in Swedish)

Ers Majestät, Era Kungliga Högheter, mina damer och herrar:

Jag ska försöka att säga några ord på svenska. Nobelpriset har ett högt värde hos vetenskapsmän i hela världen. Ja, det är den största ära som en forskare kan få. Varför har det blivit så? Det är inte för pengarnas skull. Man ska se på en lista över de upptäckter som har fått Nobelpriset under alla år. Då ser man hur väl svenska vetenskapsakademien har gjort sitt jobb.

Det svenska kungahuset har också hjälpt till att ge priset värde genom att kungen själv delat ut priset.

Jag är mycket tacksam för att jag och mina medarbetare har kunnat göra sådana upptäckter att vetenskapsakademien har velat belöna dem med Nobelpris. Jag vill bara hoppas att de nya grundämnen vi har funnit kommer att bli till gott for världen.

Och till sist vill jag tacka akademin for att den velat ära mig och mina medarbetare så som den gjort.

Prior to the speech, Einar Löfstedt, member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, addressed the laureate: “The same is true, Professor McMillan and Professor Seaborg, of your discoveries and achievements in nuclear chemistry. You have succeeded in augmenting the well-known periodical system with no less than six new elements. The result is, even for the layman, imposing in itself; in addition, among the many new kinds of atoms you have produced, are those which can be used for generating atomic energy – let it be noted, not merely for military, but also for peaceful ends. This is a vast perspective for future development which opens up before the imagination. We beg you too to accept our most sincere homage, and we are very happy that you have honoured this festival with your presence. And although the Nobel Prizes should be, and are, awarded regardless of nationality, race or creed, I may perhaps be allowed to stress the warmth of our greeting to you, Professor Seaborg, now that you, crowned with laurels, are visiting the land of your mother and your forefathers – a very old kingdom with a very modern democracy and a very keen interest in the progress of research and civilization.”

Edwin M. McMillan – Banquet speech

Edwin M. McMillan’s speech at the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm, December 10, 1951

Your Majesty, Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen.

I would like to say how much I appreciate this honor and how deeply impressed I am by this ceremony and by what it represents. There has never been in the history of the world any other prize or honor with the international recognition accorded to the Nobel Prize. One reason for this is that it is truly an international honor, given with regard to achievement only. It is very greatly to the credit of the Swedish and Norwegian nations, and to the organizations and individuals in those nations who have administered the giving of the Prizes, that this high ideal of Alfred Nobel has been maintained. The world would be a more agreeable place if similar ideals governed more of its affairs.

Prior to the speech, Einar Löfstedt, Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, addressed the laureate: “The same is true, Professor McMillan and Professor Seaborg, of your discoveries and achievements in nuclear chemistry. You have succeeded in augmenting the well-known periodical system with no less than six new elements. The result is, even for the layman, imposing in itself; in addition, among the many new kinds of atoms you have produced, are those which can be used for generating atomic energy – let it be noted, not merely for military, but also for peaceful ends. This is a vast perspective for future development which opens up before the imagination. We beg you too to accept our most sincere homage, and we are very happy that you have honoured this festival with your presence.”