Editing Edwin McMillan (section)

==Later life==
[[File:Sir Mark Oliphant with Edwin McMillan.jpg|thumb|[[Mark Oliphant]] (left) with McMillan, 1965]]
In June 1945, McMillan's thoughts began to return to cyclotrons. Over time they had gotten larger and larger. A 184-inch cyclotron was under construction at the Radiation Laboratory, but he realised that a more efficient use could be made of the energy used to accelerate particles. By varying the magnetic field used, the particles could be made to move in stable orbits, and higher energies achieved with the same energy input. He dubbed this the "phase stability principle", and the new design a "[[synchrotron]]".{{sfn|Jackson|Panofsky|1996|pp=226–227}}<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Synchrotron—A Proposed High Energy Particle Accelerator |first=Edwin M. |last=McMillan |journal=[[Physical Review]] |volume=68 |issue=5–6 |page=143 |date=September 1, 1945 |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.68.143 |bibcode=1945PhRv...68..143M }}</ref> Unknown to McMillan, the synchrotron principle had already been invented by [[Vladimir Veksler]], who had published his proposal in 1944.<ref>{{Cite journal |first=V. I. |last=Veksler |title=A new method of accelerating relativistic particles |journal=[[Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences de l'URSS]] |volume=43 |number=8 |year=1944 |pages=329–331 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=665HAQAAIAAJ }}</ref> McMillan became aware of Veksler's paper in October 1945.<ref name="Oral3" /> The two began corresponding, and eventually became friends. In 1963 they shared the [[Atoms for Peace Award]] for the invention of the synchrotron.<ref name="LBL"/> In 1964, McMillan received the Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement|website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration|access-date=May 7, 2020|archive-date=December 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161215023909/https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration|url-status=live}}</ref>

The phase stability principle was tested with the old 37-inch cyclotron at Berkeley after McMillan returned to the Radiation Laboratory in September 1945. When it was found to work, the 184-inch cyclotron was similarly modified.{{sfn|Jackson|Panofsky|1996|pp=226–227}}<ref name="Oral3" /> He became a full professor in 1946. In 1954 he was appointed associate director of the Radiation Laboratory. He was promoted to deputy director in 1958. On the death of Lawrence that year, he became director, and he stayed in that position until his retirement in 1973. The laboratory was renamed the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory in 1958. In 1970, it split into the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, and McMillan became director of the former.<ref name="Nobel bio" /><ref name="LBL" />{{sfn|Jackson|Panofsky|1996|p=230}}

McMillan was elected to the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] in 1947, serving as its chairman from 1968 to 1971.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Edwin M. McMillan |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/52698.html |access-date=2023-02-06 |website=www.nasonline.org |archive-date=February 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230206164557/http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/52698.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He was elected to the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1952.<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Edwin+McMillan&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2023-02-06 |website=search.amphilsoc.org |archive-date=February 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230206164557/https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Edwin+McMillan&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |url-status=live }}</ref> He served on the influential General Advisory Committee (GAC) of the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]] from 1954 to 1958, and the Commission on High Energy Physics of the [[International Union of Pure and Applied Physics]] from 1960 to 1967.{{sfn|Seaborg|1993|pp=290–291}}  He was elected to the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1962.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Edwin Mattison McMillan |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/edwin-mattison-mcmillan |access-date=2023-02-06 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en |archive-date=February 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230206164557/https://www.amacad.org/person/edwin-mattison-mcmillan |url-status=live }}</ref> After his retirement from the faculty at Berkeley in 1974, he spent 1974–75 at [[CERN]], where he worked on the g minus 2 experiment to measure the [[magnetic moment]] of the [[muon]]. He was awarded the [[National Medal of Science]] in 1990.<ref name="LBL" />

McMillan suffered the first of a series of strokes in 1984.<ref name="LBL">{{cite web |url=http://www.osti.gov/accomplishments/documents/fullText/ACC0365.pdf |title=Edwin McMillan, a biographical sketch |publisher=[[Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory]]  |last=Lofgren |first=Edward J. |author-link=Edward J. Lofgren |access-date=July 18, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150723064637/http://www.osti.gov/accomplishments/documents/fullText/ACC0365.pdf |archive-date=July 23, 2015}}</ref> He died at his home in [[El Cerrito, California]], from complications from diabetes on September 7, 1991. He was survived by his wife and three children.<ref name="Obit">{{cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=September 9, 1991 |title=Edwin McMillan, Nobel Laureate And Chemistry Pioneer, Dies at 83 |first=Bruce |last=Lambert |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/09/us/edwin-mcmillan-nobel-laureate-and-chemistry-pioneer-dies-at-83.html | access-date = July 16, 2015 }}</ref> His gold Nobel Prize medal is in the [[National Museum of American History]], a division of [[The Smithsonian]], in Washington DC.<ref name="NMAH">{{cite web | url=http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1119605 | title=Nobel Prize Medal in Chemistry for Edwin McMillan | publisher=National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution | access-date=July 18, 2015 | archive-date=July 21, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721193535/http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1119605 | url-status=live }}</ref>