Samuel Glasstone

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Samuel Glasstone (born March 5, 1897 in London , † November 16, 1986 in Oak Ridge , Tennessee, USA) was an English, later American, physical chemist and reactor physicist and outstanding author of over 40 books in the fields of physical chemistry , reactor physics , Reactor engineering, space travel and radioecology , particularly on the effects of nuclear weapons .

Becoming and working

Samuel was born in London to grocer Jacob Glasstone and his wife Milly. He has two sisters, Ethel and Esther. It is reported that Samuel decided to become a chemist when he was 11 years old. At the age of 15 he was accepted as a student by the University of London because of his exceptional talent. Four years later he successfully completed his chemistry studies. He worked as an industrial chemist for three years. He then devoted himself to physical chemistry at King's College London . In the 1920s he gave popular science lectures at the BBC . He earned two PhD degrees in chemistry from the University of London in 1922 and 1926 ( PhD and ScD - Doctor of Science). In 1929 he published his first book, the popular science volume Chemistry in Daily Life . He writes in the foreword that the enthusiastic response from the radio listeners motivated him to write this book.

In 1939 he went to the USA with his wife Violette, née Collingwood, a botanist, with a 1700-page handwritten manuscript Textbook on Physical Chemistry in their luggage. The second edition of this monograph from 1947 will be reprinted decades later. In 1943 he and his wife Violette published a practical guide to home nutrition.

He works and teaches at Princeton University , the University of Oklahoma and the University of California . In 1944 he became a US citizen. In 1948 Glenn T. Seaborg , who later became chairman of the United States Atomic Energy Commission (ACE), asked him to write an Atomic energy sourcebook . It is the beginning of a long friendship. The Sourcebook on Atomic Energy , first published in 1950, has been translated into numerous languages. Seaborg later commented on Glasstone's books: over a period of 17 years he wrote 12 classic nuclear physics texts or specialist books for the ACE, each a model case in the respective area. His books ... show what scientific writing can be in the best case - infallibly correct, but also fluent, clear, charming and excellently organized.

Effects of Nuclear Weapons , a work Glasstone co-wrote with Philip J. Dolan, becomes by far the most popular handbook on nuclear defense during the Cold War . Originally published in 1950 at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory , the manual was modified and made commercially available for general use in 1957, revised in 1962 and expanded in 1977. The book is being illegally translated into Russian and used in the Soviet Union. The textbook is characterized as a “comprehensive summary of current knowledge about the effects of nuclear weapons” and used by the Federal Civil Defense Administration as the “authoritative source of information on the effects of nuclear weapons”.

His overall knowledge of reactor physics and nuclear energy is probably unique to this day. He writes most of his books on these subjects from his house in Pojoaque , 17 miles east of Los Alamos. He starts early in the morning and writes around 8,000 words a week. A milestone in reactor physics is the textbook The elements of nuclear reactor theory , written together with Milton C. Edlund , which appeared in 1961 under the title Nuclear Reactor Theory : An Introduction in German. The textbook Principles of nuclear reactor engineering is devoted to the practical side of reactor physics , which he is expanding together with Alexander Sesonske under the title Nuclear reactor engineering .

From 1952 to 1969 he was a resident consultant at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. In 1968 he published The book of Mars . In 1970 the textbook Nuclear reactor theory , co-authored with George I. Bell, appears . It is still considered one of the best textbooks on reactor theory among reactor theorists.

In 1969 Glasstone married the music teacher Kathleen Arilla née Grant (1913–2008), the widow of the physical chemist William H. Sullivan. After getting married, they lived together in Pojoaque for a short time and moved to Oak Ridge in 1970, where Samuel died in 1986. He will be buried in the First United Methodist Church Memorial Garden in Oak Ridge, where his second wife Kathleen will also find her final resting place.

Aftermath

Since 1990 there have been two Glasstone Research Awards ( Violette and Samuel Glasstone Research Fellowships in Science ) in the natural sciences, which are awarded annually to young scientists, one to men and one to women. Due to the stipulations of the legacy of Samuel and Violette Glasstone, these scholarships can only be awarded in the fields of chemistry, computer science, engineering, materials science, mathematics, physics, botany and statistics. The University of Oxford is responsible for selecting the winners .

Selected Works

  • Samuel Glasstone: Chemistry in Daily Life . London, Methuen & Co. 1929 (vi, 250).
  • Samuel Glasstone: Textbook of physical chemistry . 2. ed. 4. printing. New York 1947 (1320 pp.).
  • Samuel Glasstone, Violette F. Glasstone: The food you eat: A practical guide to home nutrition . University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 1943 (277 pp.).
  • Samuel Glasstone: Sourcebook on Atomic Energy . MacMillan, London 1950 (546 pp.).
  • Samuel Glasstone, Milton C. Edlund: The elements of nuclear reactor theory . MacMillan, London 1952 (VII, 416). This monograph occupies a prominent position because like no other it shaped the then young generation of reactor physicists in West and East and the later textbook writers. It is fully online in the 6th print from February 1957. babel.hathitrust.org . Full text search is possible.
  • Samuel Glasstone, Milton C. Edlund: Nuclear Reactor Theory: An Introduction . Springer, Vienna 1961 (X, 341).
  • Samuel Glasstone: Principles of nuclear reactor engineering . Van Nostrand, Princeton, NJ 1955 (IX, 861).
  • Samuel Glasstone, Philip J. Dolan: The Effects of Nuclear Weapons . 3. Edition. United States Department of Defense and the United States Department of Energy, Washington, DC 1977 (653 pp.).
  • Samuel Glasstone: The book of Mars . National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC 1968 (315 pp.).
  • George I. Bell, Samuel Glasstone: Nuclear reactor theory . Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York 1970 (XVIII, 619).

Web links

References and comments

  1. ↑ Sometimes the date of birth is given as May 3, 1897, which suggests a mix-up 3.5. and 5.3. should be attributed to, s. [1]
  2. ↑ a b c Dudley Lynch: Dr. Samuel Glasstone: A Spokesman For Science . In: The Atom, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory . 1966, p. 18–22 ( online [PDF; accessed August 14, 2018]).
  3. ↑ The life data of Violette Glasstone-born Collingwood could not be determined.
  4. ↑ a b Glasstone Research Fellowships in Science. Retrieved August 14, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Glenn T. Seaborg: Over a period of 17 years he has produced for the AEC 12 classical nuclear texts or reference books, each a model in its field. His books ... show what science writing at its best can be - unfairingly correct, but also fluent, lucid, gracesful and superbly organized.
  6. ↑ Evangelos Kotsioris: Spinning the Risk: The Effects of Nuclear Weapons Handbook. 2018, accessed August 14, 2018 .
  7. ↑ It is not known whether Glasstone worked on the Manhattan Project , but it is unlikely.
  8. ↑ www.findagrave.com , accessed December 17, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Glasstone, Samuel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British-American reactor physicist
DATE OF BIRTH March 5, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH November 16, 1986
Place of death Oak Ridge , Tennessee, USA