# Edwin McMillan

_American physicist (1907-1991)_

Canonical: https://diginpl.com/people/edwin-mcmillan
Last updated: 2026-11-01

> 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.

## Quick facts

- **Born:** 18 September 1907 ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19009#P569))
- **Place of birth:** Redondo Beach ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19009#P19))
- **Died:** 7 September 1991 ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19009#P570))
- **Place of death:** El Cerrito ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19009#P20))
- **Citizenship:** United States ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19009#P27))
- **Occupation:** physicist; university teacher ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19009#P106))
- **Education:** Pasadena High School; California Institute of Technology; Princeton University ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19009#P69))
- **Awards:** Atoms for Peace Award; Nobel Prize in Chemistry; National Medal of Science; Fellow of the American Physical Society; Golden Plate Award ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19009#P166))

## About

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 Radio and Sound Laboratory. In 1942 he joined the Manhattan Project, the wartime effort to create the atomic bomb and helped establish its Los Alamos Laboratory where the bomb was 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.

## Questions

**When was Edwin McMillan born?**  
Edwin McMillan was born on 18 September 1907 in Redondo Beach.

**Where did Edwin McMillan study?**  
Edwin McMillan was educated at Pasadena High School, California Institute of Technology, Princeton University.

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## Sources

- [Wikipedia (English): Edwin McMillan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_McMillan) — [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
- [Wikidata item Q19009](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19009) — [CC0 1.0](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- [Image: Edwin McMillan Nobel.jpg by Nobel Foundation (Public domain)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edwin_McMillan_Nobel.jpg)

## Licence and attribution

Text from the Wikipedia article Edwin McMillan, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page's text is shared under the same licence. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: Edwin McMillan Nobel.jpg — Nobel Foundation, Public domain.

## Cite this page

"Edwin McMillan". DigiNepal. Last updated 1 November 2026. https://diginpl.com/people/edwin-mcmillan. Retrieved 5 November 2026.