Darleane C. Hoffman

Early life and education

Darleane Christian was born on November 8, 1926, at home in the small town of Terril, Iowa, and was the daughter of Carl B. and Elverna Clute Christian. Her father was a mathematics teacher and superintendent of schools; her mother wrote and directed plays.

When she was a freshman in college at Iowa State College (now Iowa State University), she took a required chemistry course taught by Nellie May Naylor, and decided to pursue further study in that field. She received her B. S. (1948) and Ph. D. (1951) degrees in chemistry (nuclear) from Iowa State University.

Career

Darleane C. Hoffman was a chemist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for a year and then joined her husband at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory where—after an extensive delay where she was denied access to the laboratory because the human resources department refused to believe that a woman could be a chemist—she began as a staff member in 1953. She became Division Leader of the Chemistry and Nuclear Chemistry Division (Isotope and Nuclear Chemistry Division) in 1979. She left Los Alamos in 1984 to accept appointments as tenured professor in the department of chemistry at UC Berkeley and Leader of the Heavy Element Nuclear & Radiochemistry Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Additionally, she helped found the Seaborg Institute for Transactinium Science at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1991 and became its first director, serving until 1996 when she "retired" to become Senior Advisor and Charter Director.

Over her career, Hoffman studied the chemical and nuclear properties of transuranium elements and confirmed the existence of seaborgium.

Personal life and death

Right after finishing her doctoral work, Darleane Christian married Marvin M. Hoffman, a physicist. both born at Los Alamos.

Darleane Hoffman died in Menlo Park, California on September 4, 2025, at the age of 98.

Awards and memberships

• 2023 – Enrico Fermi Presidential Award
• 2014 – Los Alamos Medal
• 2000 – Priestley Medal, (only the second woman to win the Priestley, after Mary L. Good in 1997)
• 1997 – National Medal of Science
• 1990 – Garvan-Olin Medal
• 1986 – Fellow of the American Physical Society
• 1983 – ACS Award for Nuclear Chemistry, and she was the first woman to win the award.
• 1978 – Guggenheim Fellowship

She was a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.

References

References

1. "Darleane Hoffman, Harold Johnston to Receive National Medal of Science".
2. (13 November 2002). "The 50 Most Important Women in Science". Discover.
3. ""Elverna E. Christian," Plaza of Heroines, Iowa State University".
4. "Nellie May Naylor". Iowa State University.
5. (1 February 2012). "Darleane Hoffman: Adventures in the nature of matter". College of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley.
6. (2016-06-01). "Darleane C. Hoffman". Science History Institute.
7. [https://www.chemistryworld.com/features/victor-ninov-and-the-element-that-never-was/3010596.article The element that never was], by Kit Chapman, in ''[[Chemistry World]]''; published June 10, 2019; retrieved November 23, 2022
8. "Collection: Darleane C. Hoffman papers {{!}} Iowa State University - ArchivesSpace".
9. "Keynote speaker: D. Hoffman, Ph.D.". Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
10. (2017-09-11). "Women overlooked for Nobel honors". C&EN Global Enterprise.
11. "Darleane (Christian) Hoffman – SJY Group".
12. [http://cyclotron.tamu.edu/sjygroup/Biographies/hoffman.htm Darleane (Christian) Hoffman bio page] {{Webarchive. link. (2010-06-12 , Cyclotron Institute, Texas A&M University)
13. Ricks, Delthia. (October 5, 2025). "Darleane Hoffman, Innovator in Nuclear Chemistry, Dies at 98". The New York Times.
14. "Darleane C. Hoffman".
15. (28 March 2023). "Biden-Harris Administration Announces Recipients of the Enrico Fermi Award {{!}} OSTP".
16. Energy, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, for the U. S. Department of. "A short history of women at Los Alamos".
17. "Gruppe 8: Teknologiske fag". [[Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters]].