Co-discoverer of Promethium, father of Harvard woman
Lawrence Elgin Glendenin. (Courtesy photo)
Dr. Lawrence Elgin Glendenin, devoted husband, father, and grandfather, died Nov. 22, 2008 at the age of 90. He was a longtime resident of Downers Grove, Ill. and more recently of Crystal Lake, Ill.
In 1945 Dr. Glendenin, with associates Jacob Marinsky and Charles Coryell, co-discovered the radioactive element Promethium, element 61 on the periodic table of elements, while the three were working on the Manhattan Project, a secret government project with the code name Metallurgical Lab, at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Dr. Glendenin was one of the many scientists of the Manhattan Project who signed the Szilárd petition, which urged President Truman to provide a demonstration of the atomic bomb’s power on a nonpopulated area to promote a Japanese surrender so it would not have to be used against a city.
Dr. Glendenin was born in 1918 in Bay City, Mich. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1941, and a year later joined the Manhattan Project as a research chemist. His group’s task was to chemically separate, identify, and characterize the radioactive properties of the elements found during nuclear fission.
Dr. Glendenin earned his doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1949 and, while working as a senior scientist at Argonne National Laboratory from 1949 to 1985, was appointed as the scientific secretary on the U.S. delegation to the Atoms for Peace Conference. He was a recipient of the Glenn T. Seaborg Award for Nuclear Chemistry sponsored by the American Chemical Society in 1974. During his career Dr. Glendenin authored numerous research papers on the products of fission.
Dr. Glendenin is survived by his wife of 63 years, Ethel Long Glendenin of Crystal Lake, Ill.; his two daughters, Patricia Malon and her husband Wayne of Ballwin, Mo., and Lorrie Bollinger of Harvard; his son Charles Glendenin and his wife Janet of Algonquin, Ill.; six grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. His son David and son-in-law Jeffrey Bollinger preceded him in death.
In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to the Lawrence E. Glendenin Memorial Fund at M.I.T., whose purpose is to provide support scholarships for undergraduate chemistry students attending M.I.T. Checks should be mailed to Ms. Bonny Kellermann, Director of the M.I.T. Office of Memorial Gifts, 600 Memorial Drive, Room W98-500, Cambridge, MA 02139.
Arrangement of a memorial service will be made at a later date.
