Isadore Perlman (April 12, 1915 – August 3, 1991) was an American nuclear

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe t ...

noted for his research of

Alpha particle Alpha particles, also called alpha rays or alpha radiation, consist of two protons and two neutrons bound together into a particle identical to a helium-4 nucleus. They are generally produced in the process of alpha decay, but may also be pr ...

decay Decay may refer to: Science and technology * Bit decay, in computing * Software decay, in computing * Distance decay, in geography * Decay time (fall time), in electronics Biology * Decomposition of organic matter * Tooth decay (dental caries ...

. Isadore Perlman; Nuclear Chemist, Expert on Alpha Particle Decay;August 09, 1991
/ref>
/ref> University of California:In Memoriam
/ref> The National Academy of Sciences called Perlman "a world leader on the systematics of alpha decay". He was also recognized for his research of nuclear structure of the heavy elements. He was also noted for his isolation of Curium, as well as for fission of

tantalum Tantalum is a chemical element with the symbol Ta and atomic number 73. Previously known as ''tantalium'', it is named after Tantalus, a villain in Greek mythology. Tantalum is a very hard, ductile, lustrous, blue-gray transition metal that ...

bismuth Bismuth is a chemical element with the symbol Bi and atomic number 83. It is a post-transition metal and one of the pnictogens, with chemical properties resembling its lighter group 15 siblings arsenic and antimony. Elemental bismuth occurs ...

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

thallium Thallium is a chemical element with the symbol Tl and atomic number 81. It is a gray post-transition metal that is not found free in nature. When isolated, thallium resembles tin, but discolors when exposed to air. Chemists William Crookes an ...

and

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

. Perlman discovered uses of

radioactive iodine There are 37 known isotopes of iodine (53I) from 108I to 144I; all undergo radioactive decay except 127I, which is stable. Iodine is thus a monoisotopic element. Its longest-lived radioactive isotope, 129I, has a half-life of 15.7 million year ...

and

phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ear ...

for medical purposes. He played a key role in

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...

's plutonium production.

Neutron activation analysis

He was also a top expert in the field of archaeometry. He pioneered high-precision methods of neutron activation analysis at the

Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), commonly referred to as the Berkeley Lab, is a United States national laboratory that is owned by, and conducts scientific research on behalf of, the United States Department of Energy. Located in ...

in the US. Neutron activation analysis helps to determine the origin of ancient pottery and other artifacts through the analysis of the clay from which they were made. He was helped in the project by another noted scientist

Frank Asaro Frank Asaro (born Francesco Asaro, July 31, 1927 – June 10, 2014) was an Emeritus Senior Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory associated with the University of California at Berkeley. He is best known as the chemist who discov ...

. Second millennium BC pottery known as

Cypriot Bichrome ware Cypriot Bichrome ware is a type of Late Bronze Age, and Iron Age, pottery that is found widely on Cyprus and in the Eastern Mediterranean. This type of pottery is found in many sites on Cyprus, in the Levant, and also in Egypt. It was typically p ...

was one of the first archaeological projects that Perlman and Asaro undertook.

Recognition

Perlman was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

, a member of the Danish Royal Academy, chairman of the Department of Chemistry of the

University of California, 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 u ...

, head of the Nuclear Chemistry Division and an associate director of the

Lawrence Radiation Laboratory Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

Legacy

In 2006, Perlman's former student and collaborator

transferred archives of their work at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to the

University of Missouri Research Reactor Center The University of Missouri Research Reactor Center (MURR) is home to a tank-type nuclear research reactor that serves the University of Missouri in Columbia, United States. , the MURR is the highest power university research reactor in the U.S. at ...

with the request that they transcribe these data and share them with the scientific community. After more than a decade, a (nearly) comprehensive archive of the work of Asaro, Perlman, and Michel on the geochemistry of archaeological and geological samples was produced by Matthew T. Boulanger. This archive was provided to the scientific community vi
the Digital Archaeological Record (tDAR)
The knowledge and experiences gained through working with these records has been used to recommend best practices to modern laboratories producing similar data to ensure that they remain useful into the future.

Notable awards

* 1939 Rosenberg Fellowship * 1940 Upjohn Research Fellowship * 1952 California Section Award,

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

* 1955

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the a ...

* 1960 Ernest O. Lawrence Award, Atomic Energy Commission * 1963

* 1964

Award for Nuclear Applications in Chemistry

Chronology

* April 12, 1915 born in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

* 1936: BS,

( Chemistry) * 1940: PhD,

(

Physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

) * 1936–1937: Paraffin Company, Inc., Control Chemist * 1940–1941:

, Upjohn Fellow * 1942–1943:

, Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory, Researcher * 1943–1944:

, Oak Ridge Clinton Laboratory, Senior Chemist * 1944–1945:

, Hanford Engineering Works (GE), Senior Chemist * 1945–1974:

, Associate Professor to Professor of Chemistry * 1963: elected to National Academy of Sciences * 1974–1988:

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

, Professor of Archeology and Chemistry * 1988–1991: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Researcher * August 3, 1991 died in

Los Alamitos, California Los Alamitos () is a city in Orange County, California. The city was incorporated in March 1960. The population was 11,780 at the 2020 census, up from 11,449 at the 2010 census. The adjacent unincorporated community of Rossmoor uses the same 9 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Perlman, Isadore 1915 births 1991 deaths 20th-century American chemists University of California, Berkeley faculty University of California, Berkeley alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Scientists from Milwaukee Nuclear chemists Manhattan Project people