Throughout his long career as a scientist of the first magnitude and popular speaker at prestigious scientific gatherings, Glenn Seaborg always liked to mention that he was born in Ishpeming and “I can see by the looks on your faces that are a few people here who don’t know where Ishpeming is. Well let me put your minds at ease : It’s right next to Negaunee!”
Seaborg who died in 1999 was a scientist of the first order — probably the most esteemed scientist to be born in the Great Lakes State. His list of accomplishments is long and varied; at the top is the Nobel Prize for Chemistry and the 1991 National Medal of Science (the U.S.’s highest award for scientific achievement) as well as the discovery or co-discovery of 10 elements and 100 isotopes. He was a trusted advisor to 10 Presidents and an internationally respected figure in the field of atomic energy. He was a key contributor to the Manhattan Project during World War II, allowing the U.S. to win the race in developing the atomic bomb which led to the end of the war. Seaborg was also one of the seven signers of a letter to President Truman asking him to drop the bomb on a deserted Pacific Island rather than on a Japanese city. Later in life he would travel to more than 60 countries to promote international cooperation in science and the peaceful uses of atomic and nuclear energy, as well as helping negotiate the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and laying the groundwork for the later Non-Proliferation Treaty.
In addition to an element (106, Seaborgium) and an asteroid, dozens of research centers, scholarships, and awards still carry his name.
Source : Peggy House, “Glenn Seaborg Citizen-Scholar”, Michigan History, March/April 2015, pp.15-20.