Bernard Harvey

Bernard G. Harvey

Bernard George Harvey died November 29 at his home in Berkeley, CA at age 97. Dr. Harvey was a pioneering British-American nuclear physicist and co-discoverer in 1955 of chemical element 101, mendelevium, with a team lead by Glenn T. Seaborg at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.

Dr. Harvey retired from a prolific research career at LBL, where he was director of the 88-Inch Cyclotron.

After completing his studies at Oxford University, Dr. Harvey worked at Chalk River Laboratories in Deep River, Ontario during WWII, where he published the first scientific paper on plutonium chemistry. It caught the attention of Berkeley scientists, and he and his family moved to Berkeley where he joined Seaborg's team in 1953.

Dr. Harvey was awarded a Guggenheim Scholarship in 1961 and spent a year with his family in France, where he worked with French colleagues and authored his first textbook on nuclear physics. The stay started a lifelong attachment to France for him and his beloved wife Margaret.

Dr. Harvey was the author of many scientific papers and textbooks. He was an avid amateur photographer, woodworker, and lover of the French countryside and the California mountains. He especially enjoyed hiking and sailing and for many years was active with Boy Scout Troop 6 in Berkeley.

He was preceded in death by his wife in 2011 and is survived by four sons, a daughter, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Our hearts will hold him close and recall with joy the adventures we shared.