Darleane Christian Hoffman (born November 8, 1926) is an American

nuclear chemist Nuclear chemistry is the sub-field of chemistry dealing with radioactivity, nuclear processes, and transformations in the nuclei of atoms, such as nuclear transmutation and nuclear properties. It is the chemistry of radioactive elements such as ...

who was among the researchers who confirmed the existence of

Seaborgium Seaborgium is a synthetic chemical element with the symbol Sg and atomic number 106. It is named after the American nuclear chemist Glenn T. Seaborg. As a synthetic element, it can be created in a laboratory but is not found in nature. It is al ...

, element 106. She is a faculty senior scientist in the Nuclear Science Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a professor in the graduate school at

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...

. In acknowledgment of her many achievements,

Discover Magazine ''Discover'' is an American general audience science magazine launched in October 1980 by Time Inc. It has been owned by Kalmbach Publishing since 2010. History Founding ''Discover'' was created primarily through the efforts of ''Time'' m ...

recognized her in 2002 as one of the 50 most important women in science.

Early life and education

She was born as Darleane Christian on November 8, 1926 at home in the small town of

Terril, Iowa Terril is a city in Dickinson County, Iowa, United States. The population was 334 at the time of the 2020 census. History Terril (formerly spelled Terrill) was platted in 1895. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city ha ...

, and is the daughter of Carl B. and Elverna Clute Christian. Her father was a mathematics teacher and superintendent of schools; her mother wrote and directed plays. When she was a freshman in college at Iowa State College (now

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...

), she took a required chemistry course taught by Nellie May Naylor, and decided to pursue further study in that field. She received her B. S. (1948) and Ph. D. (1951) degrees in chemistry (nuclear) from

Career

Darleane C. Hoffman was a chemist at

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a U.S. multiprogram science and technology national laboratory sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and administered, managed, and operated by UT–Battelle as a federally funded research an ...

for a year and then joined her husband at the

Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, in ...

where—after an extensive delay where she was denied access to the laboratory because the human resources department refused to believe that a woman could be a chemistThe element that never was
by Kit Chapman, in '' Chemistry World''; published June 10, 2019; retrieved November 23, 2022—she began as a staff member in 1953. She became Division Leader of the Chemistry and Nuclear Chemistry Division (Isotope and Nuclear Chemistry Division) in 1979. She left Los Alamos in 1984 to accept appointments as tenured professor in the Department of Chemistry at UC Berkeley and Leader of the Heavy Element Nuclear & Radiochemistry Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Additionally, she helped found the Seaborg Institute for Transactinium Science at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1991 and became its first Director, serving until 1996 when she "retired" to become Senior Advisor and Charter Director. Over her career, Hoffman studied the chemical and nuclear properties of

transuranium element The transuranium elements (also known as transuranic elements) are the chemical elements with atomic numbers greater than 92, which is the atomic number of uranium. All of these elements are unstable and decay radioactively into other elements. ...

s and confirmed the existence of

seaborgium Seaborgium is a synthetic chemical element with the symbol Sg and atomic number 106. It is named after the American nuclear chemist Glenn T. Seaborg. As a synthetic element, it can be created in a laboratory but is not found in nature. It is al ...

Personal life

Right after finishing her doctoral work, Darleane Christian married Marvin M. Hoffman, a physicist. The Hoffmans had two children, Maureane Hoffman, M.D., Ph.D ( Duke Medical School) and Dr. Daryl Hoffman (plastic surgeon), both born at Los Alamos.

Awards and memberships

* 2014 – Los Alamos Medal *2000 – Priestley Medal, (only the second woman to win the Priestley, after

Mary L. Good Mary Lowe Good (June 20, 1931 – November 20, 2019) was an American inorganic chemist who worked academically, in industrial research and in government. Good contributed to the understanding of catalysts such as ruthenium which activate or speed ...

in 1997) * 1997 –

National Medal of Science The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social scienc ...

* 1990 – Garvan-Olin Medal * 1986 – Fellow of the American Physical Society * 1983 – ACS Award for Nuclear Chemistry, and she was the first woman to win the award. * 1978 – Guggenheim Fellowship She is a member of the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters ( no, Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick Unive ...

References

External links

Darleane Hoffman, Harold Johnston to Receive National Medal of Science
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffman, Darleane 1926 births Living people Iowa State University alumni 21st-century American chemists National Medal of Science laureates UC Berkeley College of Chemistry faculty Los Alamos National Laboratory personnel Recipients of the Garvan–Olin Medal Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters American women chemists Fellows of the American Physical Society 21st-century American women scientists