- Seitz, Frederick
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▪ 2009American physicistborn July 4, 1911, San Francisco, Calif.died March 2, 2008, New York, N.Y.helped advance the field of solid-state physics and played an important role in developing the atomic bomb. While a graduate student at Princeton University, Seitz, together with his teacher E.P. Wigner, developed the Wigner-Seitz method of calculating the cohesive energy of metals; this led to his book The Modern Theory of Solids (1940), which contained information that helped foster the development of the transistor. During World War II, Seitz was involved with the development of radar and ballistics; he later became director of the atomic energy training program at Oak Ridge (Tenn.) National Laboratory and taught physics at a number of top universities. He also served as president (1962–69) of the National Academy of Sciences, president (1968–78) of Rockefeller University, New York City, and a member of a presidential scientific advisory committee during the Cold War. Toward the end of his career, Seitz worked as a paid consultant for the R.J. Reynolds tobacco company, which put out a study stating that smoking cigarettes did not pose health risks. He also advised the U.S. government to veto the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, insisting that global warming was a myth.
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Universalium. 2010.
