From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Frederick Seitz (July 4, 1911–March 2, 2008)
was an American physicist and a
pioneer of solid state
physics. Seitz studied under Eugene Wigner at Princeton
University, graduating in 1934. He, along with Wigner, came up
with the concept of the Wigner-Seitz
unit cell. Seitz was president of the United States
National Academy of Sciences 1962-1969.[1] He also
founded the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory at the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as well as several other material
research laboratories across the United States.[2][3]
Biography
Born in San Francisco on July 4, 1911, Seitz graduated from Lick-Wilmerding High School
in the middle of his senior year. He went on to study physics at Stanford
University obtaining his bachelor's degree in three years, and
then moved to Princeton University to study metals under Eugene Wigner. He
and Wigner pioneered one of the first quantum theory of crystals, and
developed concepts such as the Wigner-Seitz
unit cell.[2]
After graduate studies, Seitz continued to work on solid state
physics, publishing The Modern Theory of Solids in 1940,
motivated by a desire to "write a cohesive account of the various
aspects of solid-state physics in order to give the field the kind
of unity it deserved". The Modern Theory of Solids helped
unify and understand the relations between the fields of metallurgy, ceramics,
and electronics. He
was also a consultant on many World War II related projects in metallurgy, radiation
damage to solids and electronics amongst others. He, along with
Hillard Huntington, made the first calculation of the energies of
formation and migration of vacancies and interstitials in copper,
inspiring many works on point defects in metals.[2]
He was the president of Rockefeller University from 1968 to 1978
during which he helped to launch new research programs in molecular
biology, cell
biology, and neuroscience as well as creating a joint
MD-PhD program with Cornell University. Shortly before
his retirement from Rockefeller University in 1979, Seitz began
working as a paid permanent consultant for the R.J.
Reynolds Tobacco Company, advising their research program.[4]. In a
discussion of the dangers of secondary inhalation of tobacco smoke,
he concluded "there is no good scientific evidence that passive
inhalation is truly dangerous under normal circumstances."[5] Philip Morris
attorney Alexander Holtzman described Seitz in a 1989 internal memo as "quite elderly and not
sufficiently rational to offer advice."[6]
Seitz was a founder of the George C. Marshall
Institute and was chairman of its board. In 1994, the Institute
published a paper by Seitz titled Global warming and ozone hole
controversies: A challenge to scientific judgment. He
questioned the view that CFCs "are the greatest threat to the ozone layer".[7].
Seitz questioned whether global warming is anthropogenic.[8] He
supported the position of the Oregon Institute
of Science and Medicine (OISM) on global warming and in an open
letter invited scientists to sign the OISM's global warming
petition. Seitz also signed the 1995 Leipzig
Declaration. Critics say he used the same "uncertainty" tactic
to challenge global warning that he had used effectively at R.J.
Reynolds to confuse the cancer/smoking link debate.[9]
Seitz died March 2, 2008 in New York.[10][11]
Positions
held
- Carnegie Tech, Head of the physics
department (1946–?)[12]
- University of
Illinois, Professor of physics (1949–1968)[2]
- American Institute of
Physics, Chairman (1954-1959)[2]
- Academic
Press, Editor (1955–1984)[2]
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization,
(1959-1960)[2]
- American
Physics Society, Chairman (1961)[2]
- United States
National Academy of Sciences, Chairman (1962–1964)[2]
- United States
National Academy of Sciences, Chairman (1964-1969)[2]
- Rockefeller University,
President Emeritus (1968–1978)[2]
- Richard Lounsbery
Foundation, President (?–?)[13]
- Science and Environmental Policy Project,
Chair (?–?)
- George C. Marshall
Institute, Founder, Chairman
- Physica Status Solidi B,
Editorial Board Member[14]
Books
- Frederick Seitz On the Frontier, My Life in Science
(American Institute of Physics, 1994)
- Nikolaus
Riehl and Frederick Seitz Stalin’s Captive: Nikolaus Riehl
and the Soviet Race for the Bomb (American Chemical Society
and the Chemical Heritage Foundations, 1996) ISBN
0-8412-3310-1.
- This book is a translation of Nikolaus Riehl’s book Zehn
Jahre im goldenen Käfig (Ten Years in a Golden Cage)
(Riederer-Verlag, 1988); but Seitz wrote a lengthy introduction. It
contains 58 photographs.
Awards
References
External
links
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
