Frases de Glenn T. Seaborg

„«Nuestra nación está en riesgo. Nuestra anterior indiscutible superioridad, en el comercio, la industria, la ciencia y la innovación tecnológica, está siendo superada por competidores de todo el mundo … los fundamentos educativos de nuestra sociedad están siendo erosionados por una marea creciente de mediocridad que amenaza nuestro propio futuro como nación y como pueblo. Lo que era inimaginable hace una generación ha comenzado a ocurrir - que otros están igualando y superando nuestros logros educativos.“

—  Glenn T. Seaborg

„El mundo tecnológico moderno parece abrumador para muchas personas. Conduce a algunos al pesimismo y la desesperación. Esto hace que otros duden del futuro de la humanidad a menos que nos retiremos a formas de vida más simples, e incluso a las formas de nuestros antepasados. Lo que estas personas no consideran es que no podemos volver a esas formas y esos días. Además, a pesar de todas nuestras dificultades, la vida de hoy es mucho mejor para más gente y las posibilidades para el futuro pueden ser más brillantes que nunca, si no se desarrollan sólo los nuevos conocimientos, sino una fe y confianza mayores en la mente y el espíritu humano.“

—  Glenn T. Seaborg

„Hay que separar el uso de radioisótopos del desarrollo de armas nucleares. La naturaleza hizo posibles las armas nucleares, por lo que era de interés nacional para nosotros estar a la vanguardia con la bomba atómica. No teníamos otra opción. No veo ninguna ventaja en que Hitler hubiese conseguido la bomba en primer lugar. Pero si usted me pregunta, si yo desearía que las leyes de la naturaleza fuesen tales que no hubiese sido posible fabricar armas nucleares, mi respuesta es: ¡Dios mío, sí!“

—  Glenn T. Seaborg

„Existe belleza en el descubrimiento. Hay matemáticas en la música, un parentesco entree la ciencia y la poesía en la descripción de la naturaleza, y la forma exquisita de una molécula. Los intentos para colocar las diferentes disciplinas en diferentes campos se revelan como artificiales frente a la unidad del conocimiento. Todos los hombres alfabetizados están sostenidos por el filósofo, el historiador, el analista político, el economista, el científico, el poeta, el artesano y el músico.“

—  Glenn T. Seaborg

Fuente: Al ser nombrado canciller de la Universidad de California en Berkeley en 1958. Citado por: Darleane C. Hoffman. Memorias biográficas. National Academies Press. pág. 252. ISBN 0-309-07035-X.

„Rodeado de estudiantes deslumbrantemente brillantes, no estaba seguro de que pudiera terminar el grado. Sin embargo, recordando la frase de Edison de que el genio contiene un 99 por ciento de transpiración, descubrí un prosaico secreto hacia el éxito. Yo podría trabajar más duro que la mayoría de ellos.“

—  Glenn T. Seaborg

Fuente: Citado en: Glenn Seaborg: In his own words http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/seaborg-quotes-own.html. Sciencebeat. Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.

„La educación de los jóvenes en la ciencia es al menos tan importante, tal vez más, que la propia investigación.“

—  Glenn T. Seaborg

Fuente: Publicado en The New York Times. Citado en: Chemistry Nobelist Glenn Seaborg Dies. http://articles.latimes.com/1999/feb/27/news/mn-12188/3 Los Angeles Times, 27 de febrero de 1999.

„La gente debe entender que la ciencia no posee intrínsecamente un potencial para el bien ni para el mal. Se trata de un potencial que puede ser aprovechado por el hombre para hacer su voluntad.“

—  Glenn T. Seaborg

Fuente: Entrevista a Glenn T. Seaborg, Associated Press (29-Sep-1964). Citado en: Bill Swainson, Encarta Book of Quotations (2000), 833.

„There is a beauty in discovery.“

—  Glenn T. Seaborg

Statement upon being appointed as UC Berkeley chancellor in 1958, as quoted Biographical Memoirs (2000) edited by Darleane C. Hoffman, p, 252 <!-- ISBN 0-309-07035-X National Academies Press-->
Contexto: There is a beauty in discovery. There is mathematics in music, a kinship of science and poetry in the description of nature, and exquisite form in a molecule. Attempts to place different disciplines in different camps are revealed as artificial in the face of the unity of knowledge. All literate men are sustained by the philosopher, the historian, the political analyst, the economist, the scientist, the poet, the artisan and the musician.

„I suppose that I should say a few words with respect to the possibility for future production and identification of additional transuranium elements“

—  Glenn T. Seaborg

"The Transuranium Elements : Present Status" Nobel Lecture (12 December 1951) http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1951/seaborg-lecture.html
Contexto: I suppose that I should say a few words with respect to the possibility for future production and identification of additional transuranium elements, especially in view of the possibility of their production by heavy-ion bombardment of transuranium elements. As an aid to such a program the radioactive properties can be estimated, as I have already indicated, on the assumption of a smooth nuclear energy surface and the systematics of radioactivity. Again, I must emphasize that such considerations are negated in the event that a stable subshell of 148 neutrons should be found to exist, and this must be regarded as a definite possibility. It is interesting to note that our considerations on the systematics of spontaneous fission28 indicate that this method of decay will not compete seriously with radioactive decay until the region just beyond element 100. … These considerations illustrate clearly that one of the problems is that of conceiving means for producing nuclides of sufficiently high mass numbers with half-lives long enough for chemical identification. Thus, the serious problem is again the paucity of starting materials.

„These considerations illustrate clearly that one of the problems is that of conceiving means for producing nuclides of sufficiently high mass numbers with half-lives long enough for chemical identification. Thus, the serious problem is again the paucity of starting materials.“

—  Glenn T. Seaborg

"The Transuranium Elements : Present Status" Nobel Lecture (12 December 1951) http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1951/seaborg-lecture.html
Contexto: I suppose that I should say a few words with respect to the possibility for future production and identification of additional transuranium elements, especially in view of the possibility of their production by heavy-ion bombardment of transuranium elements. As an aid to such a program the radioactive properties can be estimated, as I have already indicated, on the assumption of a smooth nuclear energy surface and the systematics of radioactivity. Again, I must emphasize that such considerations are negated in the event that a stable subshell of 148 neutrons should be found to exist, and this must be regarded as a definite possibility. It is interesting to note that our considerations on the systematics of spontaneous fission28 indicate that this method of decay will not compete seriously with radioactive decay until the region just beyond element 100. … These considerations illustrate clearly that one of the problems is that of conceiving means for producing nuclides of sufficiently high mass numbers with half-lives long enough for chemical identification. Thus, the serious problem is again the paucity of starting materials.

„All literate men are sustained by the philosopher, the historian, the political analyst, the economist, the scientist, the poet, the artisan and the musician.“

—  Glenn T. Seaborg

Statement upon being appointed as UC Berkeley chancellor in 1958, as quoted Biographical Memoirs (2000) edited by Darleane C. Hoffman, p, 252 <!-- ISBN 0-309-07035-X National Academies Press-->
Contexto: There is a beauty in discovery. There is mathematics in music, a kinship of science and poetry in the description of nature, and exquisite form in a molecule. Attempts to place different disciplines in different camps are revealed as artificial in the face of the unity of knowledge. All literate men are sustained by the philosopher, the historian, the political analyst, the economist, the scientist, the poet, the artisan and the musician.