1994 Seaborg Award: E. Kenneth Hulet

Award Statement C&EN (Pages 2-3)

Hulet received a B.S. degree in chemistry from Stanford University in 1949 and a Ph.D. degree in nuclear chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1953.

His work as leader of the heavy elements group at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 1966 until his retirement in 1991 enabled him to accomplish “firsts” in nuclear science that few scientists are able to match.

In 1974, Hulet was the codiscoverer, with Albert Ghiorso, of element 106. Contributing to this discovery, however, was Hulet’s work with Ronald Lougheed to produce a californium-249 target with extreme chemical purity. Their publication of this accomplishment provided proof for discovery of the element in that the researchers found evidence for the alpha decay of ²⁶³106 through both direct observation and time-correlated decay of the daughter and granddaughter alpha activities.

Hulet went on to discover a new form of nuclear fission — bimodal symmetric fission — which had not been anticipated by the theories of nuclear physics.

Throughout more than four decades, the award winner and his collaborators discovered 26 new transplutonium isotopes, including several each for the elements curium, berkelium, and californium, and continuing with several among einsteinium, fermium, mendelevium, and nobelium with neutron numbers 156 to 159.