 philip hauge abelson (april 27, 1913 â august 1, 2004) was an american physicist, a scientific editor, and a science writer. ==life== abelson was born in 1913 in tacoma, washington. he attended washington state university where he received degrees in chemistry and physics, and the university of california, berkeley (uc berkeley), where he earned his phd in nuclear physics. as a young physicist, he worked for ernest lawrence at the uc berkeley. he was among the first american scientists to verify nuclear fission in an article submitted to the physical review in february 1939.  from 1939 until 1941, he worked as an assistant physicist at the carnegie institution in washington dc. it was while he was here that he worked on a substance that emitted beta rays and was produced by irradiation of uranium with neutrons. after he collaborated with the nobel prize laureate luis alvarez they isolated the material, and became the co-discoverer of neptunium on 8 june 1940 with edwin mcmillan. mcmillan was awarded the nobel prize for this discovery among other elements. abelson was a key contributor to the manhattan project during world war ii, while working with the naval research laboratory. although he was not formally associated with the atom bomb project, the liquid thermal diffusion isotope separation technique that he invented at the philadelphia navy yard was used in the [[s
1913_births 2004_deaths American_nuclear_physicists American_physicists Deaths_from_respiratory_failure Discoverers_of_chemical_elements Fellows_of_the_American_Academy_of_Arts_and_Sciences Kalinga_Prize_recipients Manhattan_Project_people National_Academy_of_Sciences_laureates National_Medal_of_Science_laureates Neptunium University_of_California,_Berkeley_alumni Washington_State_University_alumni