Oh, I don't doubt you believe Al Gore possesses more scientific knowledge than Frederick Seitz who founded that web site. I just enjoy watching you and the other Patheist flail about when shown some facts. :-)
BIOGRAPHY OF FREDERICK SEITZ
Frederick Seitz was born in San Francisco, California on July 4, 1911. He received the A.B. degree in mathematics from Stanford University in 1932 and the Ph.D. degree in physics from Princeton University in 1934 where he was a postdoctoral Proctor Fellow. While at Princeton, he and his teacher, Professor Eugene P. Wigner, developed the Wigner-Seitz method for calculating the cohesive energy of a metal, the first such calculation, based on the known properties of the atoms involved.
He served on the faculties of the University of Rochester (1935-1937), the University of Pennsylvania (1939-1942), the Carnegie Institute of Technology, now the Carnegie-Mellon University (1942-1949), and was a research physicist at the General Electric Laboratories (1937-1939).
In 1940 Dr. Seitz published The Modern Theory of Solids, a book which is generally regarded as having been a prime influence in the development of solid state physics, including the development of transistors. His second volume, The Physics of Metals, was published in 1943. He has been an editor and consultant to numerous scientific publications.
He was the editor for the second Five Year Outlook for the National Academy of Sciences, and is consulting editor in solid state physics for the Encyclopedia of Science and Technology.
His career in public service began during World War II as a civilian member of the National Defense Research Committee and consultant to the Secretary of War. He was also the director of the training program in atomic energy at the Clinton Laboratories of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory from 1946 to 1947. His wartime research included work on ballistics, radar, and nuclear reactors. Appointed professor of physics at the University of Illinois in 1949, he became department chairman in 1957, and dean and vice president for research in 1964.
Elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1951, he served as president on a part-time basis for three years before assuming full-time responsibilities in 1965. He was a member of the board of trustees of The Rockefeller University from 1966 to 1978.
Seitz was science advisor to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Paris from 1959 to 1960 and was a member of the President's Science Advisory Committee from 1962 to 1969. He has been an advisor to the Office of Naval Research, the Office of Aerospace Research, the National Bureau of Standards, the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, the Defense Science Boards, the National Cancer Advisory Board, and The Smithsonian Institution, among other national and international agencies.
He has served as chairman of the United States delegation to the United Nations Committee on Science and Technology for Development, and as a member of the Secretary of State's Monitoring Panel for UNESCO.
He recently became chairman of an advisory board to the office of the Strategic Defense Initiative. He is former chairman of the board of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. He is a trustee of The American Museum of Natural History and of the Institute for International Education.
Among his numerous honors and awards, Dr. Seitz received the Franklin Medal in 1965, the Herbert Hoover Medal in 1968, the Defense Department Distinguished Service Award in 1968, the NASA Distinguished Service Award in 1969, the Compton Award, the highest award of the American Institute of Physics, in 1970, and the James Madison Medal of Princeton University in 1978.
In 1979 he received his second NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal presented for his "dedicated service as chairman of the NASA Space Program Advisory Council from 1973 to 1977." In addition to Rockefeller, 28 universities in this country and abroad have awarded him honorary degrees. Other memberships include The American Physical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Century Club, the Bohemian Club, the American Philosophical Society, the American Society for Metals, the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum Engineers, the American Crystallographic Society, the Optical Society of America, the Washington Academy of Science, and a number of European scientific academies. Dr. Seitz is married to the former Elizabeth K. Marshall. They reside in New York City. November 1985 |
