The Transuranium Elements (Seaborg, pp. 379-386) WITH Genes and Nucleoproteins in the Synthesis of Enzymes (Spiegelman, pp. 581-584) in Science 104, 1946

American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1946. 1st Edition. FIRST ADDITION OF “ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO THE PERIODIC TABLE SINCE MENDELEEV’S 19th century DESIGN” (Seaborg Obituary, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory). The paper includes 9 illustrations, two of which are periodic tables inclusive of Seaborg’s addition.

American scientists Glenn Seaborg (1912–1999) developed the ‘actinide concept’ “of heavy element electronic structure which predicted that the actinides – including the first eleven transuranium elements – would form a transition series analogous to the rare earth series of lanthanide elements” (ibid). Seaborg proposed the actinide concept in 1945, and a year later described his discoveries and the actinide concept in a paper – this paper -- “The Transuranium Elements” (Science 104 pp. 379-386, 25 October 1946).

Seaborg’s formulation of the concept of heavy element electronic structure showed how the transuranium elements fit into the periodic table. Seaborg noted that, "My theory required a major realignment of the periodic table of the elements." His concept became the foundation for many significant discoveries in heavy element research. "In 1946 [in this paper] Seaborg discovered that a major change was needed in the periodic table. Several elements that had been regarded as belonging to a fourth transition metal series were separated out from the main body of the periodic table to form the lanthanide and actinide series. Uranium is among these elements and is no longer regarded as a transition metal" (Scerri, The Periodic Table, 307)

ALSO INCLUDED: Spiegelman and Kamen “propose a most interesting and highly significant concept of gene action… stating‘Genes continually produce at different rates partial replicas of themselves which enter the cytoplasm’” (Lee, Protomorphology, 156). Sol Spiegelman was a pioneering molecular biologist whose discoveries accelerated the study of gene action and laid the foundations of recombinant DNA technology. Item #1075

CONDITION & DETAILS: Large 4to. Complete volume. Tightly bound in red buckram, gilt-lettered at the spine. Ex-libris with no exterior markings; light stamps on papers, otherwise bright and very clean throughout.

Price: $150.00