Editing Edwin McMillan

{{Short description|American physicist (1907–1991)}}
{{Use American English|date=April 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Edwin McMillan
| image             = Edwin McMillan Nobel.jpg
| image_size        =
| caption           = McMillan in 1951
| birth_name        = Edwin Mattison McMillan
| birth_date        = {{birth date|mf=yes|1907|9|18}}
| birth_place       = [[Redondo Beach, California]], U.S.
| death_date        = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1991|9|7|1907|9|18}}
| death_place       = [[El Cerrito, California]], U.S.
| field             = [[Chemistry]]
| work_institutions = [[University of California, Berkeley]]<br />[[Berkeley Radiation Laboratory]]
| education         = [[California Institute of Technology]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]], [[Master of Science|MS]])<br />[[Princeton University]] ([[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Edward Condon]]
| thesis_title      = Deflection of a Beam of HCI Molecules in a Non-Homogeneous Electric Field
| thesis_url        = https://www.proquest.com/docview/301830579/
| thesis_year       = 1933
| known_for         = Discovery of [[neptunium]], the first [[transuranium element]]<br>[[Synchrocyclotron]]
| prizes            = {{no wrap|[[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] (1951)<br />[[Atoms for Peace Award]] (1963)<br />[[National Medal of Science]] (1990)}}
}}

'''Edwin Mattison McMillan''' (September 18, 1907 – September 7, 1991) was an American physicist credited with being the first to produce a [[transuranium element]], [[neptunium]]. For this, he shared the 1951 [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] with [[Glenn Seaborg]].

A graduate of [[California Institute of Technology]], he earned his doctorate from [[Princeton University]] in 1933, and joined the [[Berkeley Radiation Laboratory]] where he discovered  [[oxygen-15]] and [[beryllium-10]]. During [[World War II]], he worked on [[microwave radar]] at the [[MIT Radiation Laboratory]], and then on [[sonar]] at the [[Navy Electronics Laboratory|Navy Radio and Sound Laboratory]]. In 1942 he joined the [[Manhattan Project]], the wartime effort to create [[atomic bomb]]s, and helped establish its [[Los Alamos Laboratory]] where the bombs were designed. He led teams working on the [[gun-type nuclear weapon]] design, and also participated in the development of the [[implosion-type nuclear weapon]].

McMillan co-invented the [[synchrotron]] with [[Vladimir Veksler]], and after the war he returned to the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory to build them. He was appointed associate director of the Radiation Laboratory in 1954 and promoted to deputy director in 1958. He became director upon the death of lab founder [[Ernest Lawrence]] later that year, and remained director until his retirement in 1973.

==Early life==
McMillan was born in [[Redondo Beach, California]], on September 18, 1907, the son of Edwin Harbaugh McMillan and his wife Anna Marie McMillan née Mattison.<ref name="Nobel bio">{{cite web | title=Edwin M. McMillan – Biographical | author=Nobel Foundation | url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1951/mcmillan-bio.html | access-date=July 16, 2015 | archive-date=June 11, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150611034929/http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1951/mcmillan-bio.html | url-status=live }}</ref> He had a younger sister, Catherine Helen, whose son [[John Clauser]] (that is, McMillan's nephew) won the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] in 2022.

McMillan's father was a [[physician]], as was his father's twin brother, and three of his mother's brothers. On October 18, 1908, the family moved to [[Pasadena, California]], where he attended McKinley Elementary School from 1913 to 1918, Grant School from 1918 to 1920, and then [[Pasadena High School (California)|Pasadena High School]], from which he graduated in 1924.<ref name="Oral1">{{cite web |url=https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4773-1 |title=Edwin McMillan – Session I |date=March 19, 2015 |publisher=[[American Institute of Physics]] |access-date=July 16, 2015 |archive-date=July 16, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150716091855/https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4773-1 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[California Institute of Technology]] (Caltech) was only a mile from his home, and he attended some public lectures there.{{sfn|Seaborg|1993|p=287}} He entered Caltech in 1924.  He did a research project with [[Linus Pauling]] as an undergraduate and received his [[Bachelor of Science]] [[academic degree|degree]] in 1928 and his [[Master of Science]] degree in 1929,<ref name="Nobel bio" /> writing an unpublished thesis on "An improved method for the determination of the radium content of rocks".<ref>{{cite thesis |url=https://thesis.library.caltech.edu/2420/ |title=An improved method for the determination of the radium content of rocks |last=McMillan |first=Edwin |year=1929 |publisher=[[California Institute of Technology]]  |doi=10.7907/9G6C-HC68 | access-date = July 16, 2015 |type=masters }}</ref> He then took his [[Doctor of Philosophy]] from [[Princeton University]] in 1933, writing his thesis on the "Deflection of a Beam of HCI Molecules in a Non-Homogeneous Electric Field" under the supervision of [[Edward Condon]].<ref name="thesis-mcmillan-1933">{{cite thesis |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/301830579/ |title=Deflection of a beam of hydrogen chloride molecules in a non-homogeneous electric field |date=1933 |publisher=[[Princeton University]] |degree=Ph.D. |last=McMillan |first=Edwin Mattisox |id={{ProQuest|301830579}} |url-access=subscription |oclc=77699392 |archive-date=September 19, 2022 |access-date=September 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220919020352/https://www.proquest.com/docview/301830579/ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Seaborg|1993|p=288}}

==Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory==
[[File:HD.1A.009 (12662188285).jpg|left|thumb|McMillan (left) with [[Ernest Lawrence]] (right)]]
In 1932, McMillan was awarded a [[National Research Council (United States)|National Research Council]] fellowship, allowing him to attend a university of his choice for postdoctoral study. With his PhD complete, although it was not formally accepted until January 12, 1933,<ref name="Oral1" /> he accepted an offer from Ernest Lawrence at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], to join the [[Berkeley Radiation Laboratory]], which Lawrence had founded the year before.{{sfn|Lofgren|Abelson|Helmolz|1992|pp=118–119}} McMillan's initial work there involved attempting to measure the [[magnetic moment]] of the [[proton]], but [[Otto Stern]] and [[Immanuel Estermann]] were able to carry out these measurements first.<ref name="Oral1"/>{{sfn|Jackson|Panofsky|1996|pp=217–218}}

The main focus of the Radiation laboratory at this time was the development of the [[cyclotron]], and McMillan, who was appointed to the faculty at Berkeley as an instructor in 1935, soon became involved in the effort. His skill with instrumentation came to the fore, and he contributed improvements to the cyclotron. In particular, he helped develop the process of "[[Shim (magnetism)|shimming]]", adjusting the cyclotron to produce a homogeneous magnetic field.{{sfn|Seaborg|1993|p=288}} Working with [[M. Stanley Livingston]], he discovered [[oxygen-15]], an [[isotopes of oxygen|isotope of oxygen]] that emits [[positron]]s. To produce it, they bombarded [[nitrogen]] gas with [[deuteron]]s. This was mixed with [[hydrogen]] and oxygen to produce water, which was then collected with [[hygroscopic]] [[calcium chloride]]. Radioactivity was found concentrated in it, proving that it was in the oxygen. This was followed by an investigation of the absorption of [[gamma ray]]s produced by bombarding [[fluorine]] with protons.{{sfn|Jackson|Panofsky|1996|pp=217–218}}

In 1935, McMillan, Lawrence and Robert Thornton carried out cyclotron experiments with deuteron beams that produced a series of unexpected results. Deuterons fused with a target [[atomic nucleus|nuclei]], transmuting the target to a heavier isotope while ejecting a proton. Their experiments indicated a nuclear interaction at lower energies than would be expected from a simple calculation of the [[Coulomb barrier]] between a deuteron and a target nucleus. Berkeley theoretical physicist [[Robert Oppenheimer]] and his graduate student [[Melba Phillips]] developed the [[Oppenheimer–Phillips process]] to explain the phenomenon.{{sfn|Jackson|Panofsky|1996|pp=218–219}} McMillan became an [[assistant professor]] in 1936, and an [[associate professor]] in 1941.<ref name="Nobel bio" /> With [[Samuel Ruben]], he also discovered the isotope [[beryllium-10]] in 1940.{{sfn|Seaborg|1993|p=288}} This was both interesting and difficult to isolate due to its extraordinarily long [[half-life]], about 1.39 million years.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/chart/reCenter.jsp?z=4&n=6 |publisher=National Nuclear Data Center, Brookhaven National Laboratory |title=Chart of Nuclides: <sup>10</sup>Be information |access-date=July 18, 2015 |archive-date=July 12, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170712113701/http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/chart/reCenter.jsp?z=4&n=6 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Discovery of neptunium==
Following the discovery of [[nuclear fission]] in [[uranium]] by [[Otto Hahn]] and [[Fritz Strassmann]] in 1939, McMillan began experimenting with uranium. He bombarded it with [[neutron]]s produced in the Radiation Laboratory's {{convert|37|in|cm|adj=on}} cyclotron through bombarding [[beryllium]] with deuterons. In addition to the [[nuclear fission product]]s reported by Hahn and Strassmann, they detected two unusual radioactive isotopes, one with a half-life of about 2.3 days, and the other with one of around 23 minutes. McMillan identified the short-lived isotope as [[uranium-239]], which had been reported by Hahn and Strassmann. McMillan suspected that the other was an isotope of a new, undiscovered element, with an [[atomic number]] of 93.{{sfn|Jackson|Panofsky|1996|pp=221–222}}

At the time it was believed that element 93 would have similar chemistry to [[rhenium]], so he began working with [[Emilio Segrè]], an expert on that element from his discovery of its [[Homologous series|homolog]] [[technetium]]. Both scientists began their work using the prevailing theory, but Segrè rapidly determined that McMillan's sample was not at all similar to rhenium. Instead, when he reacted it with [[hydrogen fluoride]] (HF) with a strong [[oxidizing agent]] present, it behaved like members of the [[rare-earth element]]s.{{sfn|Jackson|Panofsky|1996|pp=221–223}} Since these comprise a large percentage of fission products, Segrè and McMillan decided that the half-life must have been simply another fission product, titling the article "An Unsuccessful Search for Transuranium Elements".<ref>{{cite journal| last1=Segrè |first1=Emilio |author-link=Emilio Segrè | title=An Unsuccessful Search for Transuranium Elements| date=1939| pages=1104–5|  journal=Physical Review|volume=55| issue=11|bibcode = 1939PhRv...55.1104S |doi = 10.1103/PhysRev.55.1104 }}</ref>

McMillan realized that his 1939 work with Segrè had failed to test the chemical reactions of the radioactive source with sufficient rigor. In a new experiment, McMillan tried subjecting the unknown substance to HF in the presence of a [[reducing agent]], something he had not done before. This reaction resulted in the sample [[Precipitation (chemistry)|precipitating]] with the HF, an action that definitively ruled out the possibility that the unknown substance was a rare earth. In May 1940, [[Philip Abelson]] from the [[Carnegie Institution for Science|Carnegie Institute]] in [[Washington, DC]], who had independently also attempted to separate the isotope with the 2.3-day half-life, visited Berkeley for a short vacation, and they began to collaborate. Abelson observed that the isotope with the 2.3-day half-life did not have chemistry like any known element, but was more similar to uranium than a rare earth. This allowed the source to be isolated and later, in 1945, led to the classification of the [[actinide series]]. As a final step, McMillan and Abelson prepared a much larger sample of bombarded uranium that had a prominent 23-minute half-life from <sup>239</sup>U and demonstrated conclusively that the unknown 2.3-day half-life increased in strength in concert with a decrease in the 23-minute activity through the following reaction:
:<chem>{}^{238}_{92}U + {}^{1}_{0}n -> {}^{239}_{92}U ->[\beta^-] [23\ \ce{min}] \overset{neptunium}{^{239}_{93}Np} ->[\beta^-] [2.355\ \ce{days}] {}^{239}_{94}Pu</chem>

This proved that the unknown radioactive source originated from the decay of uranium and, coupled with the previous observation that the source was different chemically from all known elements, proved beyond all doubt that a new element had been discovered. McMillan and Abelson published their results in an article entitled ''Radioactive Element 93'' in the ''[[Physical Review]]'' on May 27, 1940.{{sfn|Jackson|Panofsky|1996|pp=221–223}}<ref name="EL93">{{cite journal| doi =10.1103/PhysRev.57.1185.2| title =Radioactive Element 93| date =1940| last1=McMillan |first1=Edwin| journal =Physical Review| volume =57| pages =1185–1186| last2 =Abelson| first2 =Philip| issue =12|bibcode = 1940PhRv...57.1185M | doi-access =free}}</ref> They did not propose a name for the element in the article, but they soon decided on "neptunium", since uranium had been named after the planet [[Uranus]], and [[Neptune]] is the next planet beyond in the [[Solar System]].{{sfn|Seaborg|1993|p=289}} McMillan suddenly departed for war-related work at this point, leaving [[Glenn Seaborg]] to pursue this line of research and discover the second transuranium element, [[plutonium]]. In 1951, McMillan shared the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] with Seaborg "for their discoveries in the chemistry of the transuranium elements".<ref>{{cite web | title=The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1951 | author=Nobel Foundation | url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1951/ | access-date=July 16, 2015 | archive-date=July 29, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150729044918/http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1951/ | url-status=live }}</ref>

==World War II==
[[File:Mcmillan-edwin m.jpg|thumb|Edwin McMillan Los Alamos badge]]
McMillan's abrupt departure was caused by the outbreak of [[World War II]] in Europe. In November 1940, he began working at the [[MIT Radiation Laboratory]] in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], where he participated in the development and testing of airborne [[microwave radar]] during [[World War II]].{{sfn|Lofgren|Abelson|Helmolz|1992|pp=118–119}} He conducted tests in April 1941 with the radar operating from an old [[Douglas B-18 Bolo]] [[medium bomber]]. Flying over the [[Naval Submarine Base New London]] with [[Luis Walter Alvarez]] and [[Air Chief Marshal]] [[Hugh Dowding]], they showed that the radar was able to detect the [[conning tower]] of a partly submerged submarine.<ref name="Oral3" /> McMillan married Elsie Walford Blumer in [[New Haven, Connecticut]], on June 7, 1941.{{sfn|Seaborg|1993|p=291}}<ref name="Oral3">{{cite web |url=https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4773-3 |title=Edwin McMillan – Session IIII |date=March 19, 2015 |publisher = [[American Institute of Physics]]  | access-date = July 16, 2015 }}</ref> Her father was George Blumer, Dean Emeritus of the [[Yale Medical School]].<ref name="Nobel bio" /> Her sister Mary was Lawrence's wife.{{sfn|Jackson|Panofsky|1996|p=216}} The McMillans had three children: Ann Bradford, David Mattison and Stephen Walker.<ref name="Nobel bio" /><ref name="Obit" />

McMillan joined the [[Navy Electronics Laboratory|Navy Radio and Sound Laboratory]]  near [[San Diego]] in August 1941. There he worked on a device called a polyscope. The idea, which came from Lawrence, was to use [[sonar]] to build up a visual image of the surrounding water. This proved to be far more difficult than doing so with radar, because of objects in the water and variations in water temperature that caused variations in the speed of sound. The polyscope proved to be impractical, and was abandoned. He also, however, developed a sonar training device for submariners, for which he received a patent.<ref name="Oral3" /><ref>{{US patent|2,694,868}}</ref>{{sfn|Seaborg|1993|p=289}}

Oppenheimer recruited McMillan to join the [[Manhattan Project]], the wartime effort to create [[atomic bomb]]s, in September 1942. Initially, he commuted back and forth between San Diego, where his family was, and Berkeley.<ref name="Oral3" /> In November he accompanied Oppenheimer on a trip to [[New Mexico]] on which the [[Los Alamos Ranch School]] was selected as the site of the project's weapons research laboratory, which became the [[Los Alamos Laboratory]].{{sfn|Rhodes|1986|pp=449–451}} With Oppenheimer and [[John H. Manley]], he drew up the specifications for the new laboratory's technical buildings.{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|p=62}} He recruited personnel for the laboratory, including [[Richard Feynman]] and [[Robert R. Wilson]], established the test area known as the Anchor Ranch, and scoured the country for technical equipment from machine tools to a cyclotron.{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|p=84}}

As the laboratory took shape, McMillan became deputy head of the [[gun-type nuclear weapon]] effort under Navy [[Captain (United States O-6)|Captain]] [[William S. Parsons]], an ordnance expert.{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|p=84}} The plutonium gun, codenamed [[Thin Man nuclear bomb|Thin Man]],{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|p=114}} needed a [[muzzle velocity]] of at least {{convert|3000|ft}} per second, which they hoped to achieve with a modified Navy [[3"/50 caliber gun|3-inch antiaircraft gun]]. The alternative was to build an [[implosion-type nuclear weapon]]. McMillan took an early interest in this, watching tests of this concept conducted by [[Seth Neddermeyer]]. The results were not encouraging. Simple explosions resulted in distorted shapes.{{sfn|Rhodes|1986|pp=477–479, 541}} [[John von Neumann]] looked at the implosion program in September 1943, and proposed a radical solution involving [[explosive lens]]es. This would require expertise in explosives, and McMillan urged Oppenheimer to bring in [[George Kistiakowsky]].{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|pp=130–133}} Kistiakowsky joined the laboratory on February 16, 1944, and Parsons's E (Explosives) Division was divided in two, with McMillan as deputy for the gun and Kistiakowsky as deputy for implosion.
{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|p=139}}

McMillan heard disturbing news in April 1944, and drove out to Pajarito Canyon to confer with Segrè. Segrè's group had tested samples of plutonium bred in the Manhattan Project's nuclear reactors and found that it contained  quantities of [[plutonium-240]], an isotope that caused spontaneous fission, making Thin Man impractical.{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|pp=238–239}} In July 1944, Oppenheimer reorganised the laboratory to make an all-out effort on implosion. McMillan remained in charge of the gun-type weapon,{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|p=245}} which would now be used only with [[uranium-235]]. This being the case, Thin Man was replaced by a new, scaled-back design called [[Little Boy]].{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|pp=256–257}} McMillan was also involved with the implosion as the head of the G-3 Group within the G (Gadget) Division, which was responsible for obtaining measurements and timings on implosion,{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|pp=272–273}} and served as the laboratory's liaison with [[Project Camel]], the aerial test program being carried out by Caltech. On July 16, 1945, he was present at the [[Trinity (nuclear test)|Trinity nuclear test]], when the first implosion bomb was successfully detonated.{{sfn|Jackson|Panofsky|1996|p=225}}

==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>

==Publications==
* McMillan, E. M.[https://www.osti.gov/biblio/4421909-focusing-linear-accelerators  "Focusing in Linear Accelerators"], University of California Radiation Laboratory, [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]], [[United States Department of Energy]] (through predecessor agency the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]]), (August 24, 1950).
* McMillan, E. M.[https://www.osti.gov/biblio/4390661-thick-target-synchrotrons-betatrons "A Thick Target for Synchrotrons and Betatrons"], University of California Radiation Laboratory, [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]], [[United States Department of Energy]] (through predecessor agency the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]]), (September 19, 1950).
* McMillan, E. M.[https://www.osti.gov/biblio/4392046-transuranium-elements-early-history "The Transuranium Elements: Early History (Nobel Lecture)"], University of California Radiation Laboratory, [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]], [[United States Department of Energy]] (through predecessor agency the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]]), (December 12, 1951).
* McMillan, E. M.[https://www.osti.gov/biblio/915423-notes-quadrupole-focusing "Notes on Quadrupole Focusing"], University of California Radiation Laboratory, [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]], [[United States Department of Energy]] (through predecessor agency the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]]), (February 9, 1956).
* McMillan, E. M.[https://www.osti.gov/biblio/4505965-some-thoughts-stability-nonlinear-periodic-focusing-systems "Some Thoughts on Stability in Nonlinear Periodic Focusing Systems"], University of California Radiation Laboratory, [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]], [[United States Department of Energy]] (through predecessor agency the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]]), (September 5, 1967).

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
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 |url=https://archive.org/details/criticalassembly0000unse
 }}
* {{cite journal
 | last1 = Jackson | first1 = David J. | author-link = John David Jackson (physicist)
 | title= Biographical Memoirs: Edwin Mattison McMillan (18 September 1907 – 7 September 1991)
 | last2 = Panofsky |first2 = W.K.H.
 | journal = Biographical Memoirs
 | volume = 69
 | publisher = National Academy Press
 | year = 1996
 | pages = 215–241
 | url = http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/mcmillan-edwin.pdf
 | access-date = July 16, 2015
}}
* {{cite journal
 |last1        = Lofgren
 |first1       = Edward J.
 |author-link  = Edward J. Lofgren
 |last2       = Abelson
 |first2      = Philip H.
 |author-link2 = Philip Abelson
 |last3       = Helmolz
 |first3      = A. Carl
 |author-link3 = A. Carl Helmholz
 |title       = Obituary: Edwin M. McMillan
 |journal     = Physics Today
 |date        = February 1992
 |volume      = 45
 |issue       = 2
 |pages       = 118–119
 |doi         = 10.1063/1.2809550
 |bibcode     = 1992PhT....45b.118L
 |doi-access= free
 }}
* {{cite book
 |last=Rhodes |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Rhodes
 |title=The Making of the Atomic Bomb
 |year=1986
 |publisher=Simon & Schuster
 |location=London
 |isbn=0-671-44133-7
|title-link=The Making of the Atomic Bomb }}
* {{cite journal
 | title= Biographical Memoirs: Edwin Mattison McMillan (18 September 1907 – 7 September 1991)
 | first= Glenn |last=Seaborg | author-link = Glenn T. Seaborg
 | journal= Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society
 | pages= 286–291
 | volume= 137
 | issue= 2
 | year= 1993
 | jstor=986736
}}

==External links==
* [http://manhattanprojectvoices.org/oral-histories/edwin-mcmillans-lecture Audio lecture by Edwin McMillan at Los Alamos National Laboratory] Voices of the Manhattan Project
* [http://manhattanprojectvoices.org/oral-histories/elsie-mcmillans-lecture Audio lecture by Elsie McMillan at Los Alamos National Laboratory] Voices of the Manhattan Project
* McMillan's  Nobel Lecture: [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1951/mcmillan-lecture.html The Transuranium Elements: Early History]
* {{Nobelprize|name=Edwin M. McMillan}} including the Nobel Lecture on December 12, 1951 ''The Transuranium Elements: Early History''

{{1951 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Nobel Prize in Chemistry Laureates 1951-1975}}
{{Manhattan Project}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:McMillan, Edwin}}
[[Category:1907 births]]
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[[Category:20th-century American chemists]]
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[[Category:People from Los Alamos, New Mexico]]
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