View source for Frederick Seitz

{{Short description|American academic administrator and physicist (1911–2008)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Frederick Seitz
| image               = File:Dr. Frederick Seitz & Dr. H.A. Kramers Oak Ridge (8365596582).jpg <!-- NOTE TO EDITORS: INFOBOX NEEDS A PHOTO SHOWING ONLY ONE PERSON -->
| image_size          =
| caption             = Frederick Seitz and [[H.A. Kramers]]
| title               = President of the [[Rockefeller University]]
| order               = 4th
| term_start          = 1968
| term_end            = 1978
| predecessor         = [[Detlev Bronk]]
| successor           = [[Joshua Lederberg]]
| title2              = President of the [[National Academy of Sciences]]
| order2              = 17th
| term_start2         = 1962
| term_end2           = 1969
| predecessor2        = [[Detlev Bronk]]
| successor2          = [[Philip Handler]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1911|7|4}}
| birth_place         = [[San Francisco]], [[California]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date and age|2008|3|2|1911|7|4}}
| death_place         = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]], U.S.
| footnotes           =
| module              = {{Infobox scientist | embed = yes
  | field             = [[Physics]]
  | work_institution  = [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign|University of Illinois]]<br />[[Rockefeller University]]
  | alma_mater        =
  | thesis_title      = A matrix-algebraic development of the crystallographic groups
  | thesis_url        = https://www.proquest.com/docview/301782774/
  | thesis_year       = 1934
  | doctoral_advisor  = [[Eugene Wigner]]
  | doctoral_students = [[Franco Bassani]]<br>[[Ronald Fuchs]]<br>[[Jack Goldman]]<br>{{ill|Walter A. Harrison|de}}<br>[[James Stark Koehler]]
  | known_for         = [[Wigner–Seitz unit cell]]
  | prizes            = [[National Medal of Science]] {{small|(1973)}}<br />[[Vannevar Bush Award]] {{small|(1983)}}
  }}
| education           = [[Stanford University]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]])<br />[[Princeton University]] ([[PhD]])
}}

'''Frederick Seitz'''{{pronunciation needed}} (July 4, 1911 – March 2, 2008) was an American physicist, a pioneer of [[solid state physics]], and [[climate change denier]]. Seitz was the 4th president of [[Rockefeller University]] from 1968 to 1978, and the 17th president of the [[National Academy of Sciences]] from 1962 to 1969. Seitz was the recipient of the National Medal of Science, NASA's Distinguished Public Service Award, and other honors.

He founded the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory at the [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign]] and several other material research laboratories across the United States.<ref name=PhysicsToday>{{cite journal|author1=E. Goldwasser |author2=A.V. Granato |author3=R.O. Simmons |title=Frederick Seitz |journal=Physics Today |year=2008 |volume=61 |issue=7 |pages=66–67| doi=10.1063/1.2963019|bibcode=2008PhT....61g..66G |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite web| title=The 1950s in the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign| url=http://www.physics.uiuc.edu/history/Timeline/1950s.asp}}{{dead link|date=December 2018}}<!--no archive found--></ref> Seitz was also the founding chairman of the [[George C. Marshall Institute]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Marshall Institute – Founders |access-date=2012-04-01 |url=http://www.marshall.org/subcategory.php?id=20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706072514/http://www.marshall.org/subcategory.php?id=20 |archive-date=2010-07-06 }}</ref>

==Background and personal life==
Seitz was born in San Francisco on July 4, 1911. His mother was also from San Francisco and his father, after whom he was named, was born in Germany.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Slichter |first=Charles P. |date=2010 |title=Frederick Seitz 1911–2008 |url=https://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/seitz-frederick.pdf |journal=Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences |pages=4}}</ref> Seitz graduated from [[Lick-Wilmerding High School]] in the middle of his senior year, and went on to study physics at [[Stanford University]] obtaining his bachelor's degree in three years,<ref name=PhysicsToday /> graduating in 1932.<ref name=TDo /> He married Elizabeth K. Marshall on May 18, 1935.<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=CJMYAAAAIAAJ Current biography yearbook, Volume 17]'', H.W. Wilson Company, 1957. p564</ref>

Seitz died March 2, 2008, in New York.<ref name=NYTobit>{{cite news|author=D. Hevesi|title=Frederick Seitz, 96, Dies; Physicist Who Led Skeptics of Global Warming |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B03E1D71138F935A35750C0A96E9C8B63 |work=The New York Times |date=2008-03-06 |page=C12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=J.L. Bast |title=Report #2 from the Global Warming Conference in New York City |url=http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=22848 |access-date=2008-03-04 |archive-date=2008-03-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080314144916/http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=22848 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
He was survived by a son, three grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.<ref name=NYTobit />

==Early career==
[[File:Wigner–Seitz cell.svg|thumb|right|200px|Construction of a Wigner–Seitz primitive cell.]]
Seitz moved to [[Princeton University]] to study [[metal]]s under [[Eugene Wigner]],<ref name=PhysicsToday /> gaining his PhD in 1934.<ref name=NYTobit /><ref name="thesis-seitz-1934">{{cite thesis |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/301782774/ |title=A matrix-algebraic development of the crystallographic groups |date=1934 |publisher=[[Princeton University]] |type=Ph.D. |last=Seitz |first=Frederick |id={{ProQuest|301782774 }}|url-access=subscription  |oclc=82947413}}</ref> He and Wigner pioneered one of the first [[crystallography|quantum theories of crystals]], and developed concepts in [[solid-state physics]] such as the [[Wigner–Seitz unit cell]]<ref name=PhysicsToday /> used in the study of [[crystal]]line material in [[solid-state physics]].

==Academic career==
After graduate studies, Seitz continued to work on solid state physics, publishing ''The Modern Theory of Solids'' in 1940, motivated by a desire to "write a cohesive account of the various aspects of solid-state physics in order to give the field the kind of unity it deserved". ''The Modern Theory of Solids'' helped unify and understand the relations between the fields of [[metallurgy]], [[ceramic]]s, and [[electronics]]. He was also a consultant on many [[World War II]]-related projects in [[metallurgy]], [[radiation damage]] to solids and electronics amongst others. He, along with [[Hillard Huntington]], made the first calculation of the [[Gibbs free energy|energies of formation]] and migration of [[Vacancy defect|vacancies]] and [[Interstitial defect|interstitials]] in [[copper]], inspiring many works on [[point defect]]s in metals.<ref name=PhysicsToday /> The scope of his published work ranged widely, also covering "[[spectroscopy]], [[luminescence]], plastic deformation, irradiation effects, physics of metals, self-diffusion, point defects in [[metal]]s and [[Insulator (electricity)|insulators]], and science policy".<ref name=PhysicsToday />

Early in his academic career, Seitz served on the faculty of the [[University of Rochester]] (1935–37)<ref name=TDo /> and after an interlude as a research physicist at [[General Electric]] Laboratories (1937–39)<ref name=TDo /> he was at the [[University of Pennsylvania]] (1939–1942) and then the [[Carnegie Institute of Technology]] (1942–49).<ref name=TDo />

From 1946 to 1947, Seitz was director of the training program in atomic energy at [[Oak Ridge National Laboratory]]. He was appointed professor of physics at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in 1949, becoming chairman of the department in 1957 and dean and vice-president for research in 1964. Seitz also served as an advisor to [[NATO]].<ref name=NYTobit /> From 1962 to 1969 Seitz served as president of the [[United States National Academy of Sciences]] (NAS), in a full-time capacity from 1965.<ref name=NAS>[[United States National Academy of Sciences]], 7 March 2008, [http://nationalacademies.org/morenews/20080307.html Past NAS President Frederick Seitz Dies at 96] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525110630/http://www.nationalacademies.org/morenews/20080307.html |date=2010-05-25}}</ref> As NAS president he initiated the [[Universities Research Association]], which contracted with the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]] to construct the world's largest [[particle accelerator]] at the time, [[Fermilab]].<ref name=PhysicsToday />

He was the president of [[Rockefeller University]] from 1968 to 1978 during which he helped to launch new research programs in [[molecular biology]], [[cell biology]], and [[neuroscience]] as well as creating a joint MD-PhD program with [[Cornell University]].<ref name=NYTobit />  He retired from Rockefeller University in 1979, when he was made President Emeritus.

==Consultancy career==
After Seitz published a paper on the darkening of crystals, [[DuPont]] asked him in 1939 for help with a problem they were having with the stability of [[chrome yellow]].  He became "deeply involved" in their research efforts.<ref>Frederick Seitz, Norman G. Einspruch, ''Electronic genie: the tangled history of silicon''. University of Illinois Press, 1998. pp. 128–29</ref>  Among other things, he investigated the possible use of non-toxic [[silicon carbide]] as a white pigment.<ref name="aipOral">{{cite interview |last=Seitz |first=Frederick |url=https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4877-1 |title=Oral history interview transcript with Frederick Seitz |interviewer=Lillian Hoddeson and Paul Henriksen |date=26 January 1981 |publisher=American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives |location=College Park, Maryland, USA}}</ref> Seitz was a director of [[Texas Instruments]] (1971–1982) and of [[Akzona Corporation]] (1973–1982).<ref name=who />

Shortly before his 1979 retirement from [[Rockefeller University]], Seitz began working as a permanent consultant for the [[R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company]], advising their medical research program<ref>{{cite web |work=Tobacco Documents |title=RJR'S Support of Biomedical Research |last=Stokes |first=Colin |url=http://tobaccodocuments.org/ness/29154.html?pattern=frederick%5Ba-z%5D%2A%5CW%2Bseitz%5Ba-z%5D%2A&p7 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080310233933/http://tobaccodocuments.org/ness/29154.html?pattern=frederick%5Ba-z%5D%2A%5CW%2Bseitz%5Ba-z%5D%2A&p7 |archive-date=2008-03-10 }}</ref> until 1988.<ref name=NYTobit /> Reynolds had previously provided "very generous" support for biomedical work at Rockefeller.<ref>Frederick Seitz, 29 May 1979 [http://tobaccodocuments.org/rjr/504480477-0504.html Presentation to International Advisory Committee of RJ Reynolds] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615152702/http://tobaccodocuments.org/rjr/504480477-0504.html |date=2011-06-15 }}</ref> Seitz later wrote that "The money was all spent on basic science, medical science," and pointed to Reynolds-funded research on [[mad cow disease]] and [[tuberculosis]].<ref name=NYTobit /> Nonetheless, later academic studies of tobacco industry influence concluded that Seitz, who helped allocate $45m of Reynolds' research funding,<ref>{{cite magazine|title = While Washington Slept|url = http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/05/warming200605?currentPage=all|date=May 2006|author = Mark Hertsgaard|magazine=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]}}</ref> "played a key role... in helping the tobacco industry produce uncertainty concerning the health impacts of smoking."<ref>{{cite book |first1=Riley E. |last1=Dunlap |first2=Aaron M. |last2=McCright |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XfTISxCa6SwC&pg=PA251 |chapter=Climate change denial: sources, actors, and strategies |editor1-first=Constance |editor1-last= Lever-Tracy |title=Routledge Handbook of Climate Change and Society |publisher=Taylor & Francis |date=2011 |page=251|isbn=9780203876213 }}</ref> According to a tobacco industry memo from 1989, Seitz was described by an employee of [[Philip Morris International]] as "quite elderly and not sufficiently rational to offer advice."<ref>{{cite web | url=http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2023266534.html?pattern=fred%5Ba-z%5D%2A%5CW%2Bseitz%5Ba-z%5D%2A&#p1 | title=Letter from Alexander Holtzman to Bill Murray | work=Tobaccodocuments.org | date=31 August 1989 | access-date=23 February 2014 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301172958/http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2023266534.html?pattern=fred%5Ba-z%5D%2A%5CW%2Bseitz%5Ba-z%5D%2A&#p1 | archive-date=1 March 2014 }}</ref>

In 1984 Seitz was the founding chairman of the [[George C. Marshall Institute]],<ref>{{Cite web
 |title        = The Marshall Institute – Remembering Frederick Seitz
 |work         = The Marshall Institute
 |access-date  = 2012-04-01
 |date         = 2008-03-04
 |url          = http://www.marshall.org/article.php?id=579
 |url-status   = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110128190713/http://www.marshall.org/article.php?id=579
 |archive-date = 2011-01-28
}}</ref><ref name=indepinst>[[The Independent Institute]], [http://www.independent.org/aboutus/person_detail.asp?id=309 Research Fellow: Frederick Seitz]. Retrieved 15 September 2010.</ref> and was its chairman until 2001.<ref name="archive1">George C. Marshall Institute, {{cite web |url=http://www.marshall.org/CrawfordIntroduction.htm |title=Untitled |access-date=2001-12-14 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011214154524/http://www.marshall.org/CrawfordIntroduction.htm |archive-date=December 14, 2001 }}</ref><ref name=PBS>{{cite interview |last=Seitz |first=Frederick |publisher=WGBH Educational Foundation |date=April 3, 2006 |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/hotpolitics/interviews/seitz.html |title=Interviews: Frederick Seitz |access-date=2019-12-16}}</ref> The Institute was founded to  argue for President Reagan's [[Strategic Defense Initiative]],<ref name=Oreskes>Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, 10 August 2010, "[http://www.scienceprogress.org/2010/08/distorting-science-while-invoking-science-2/ Distorting Science While Invoking Science] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100919104142/http://www.scienceprogress.org/2010/08/distorting-science-while-invoking-science-2/ |date=2010-09-19 }}", ''Science Progress''</ref> but "in the 1990s it branched out to become one of the leading [[think tank]]s trying to debunk the science of climate change."<ref>''[[Daily Telegraph]]'', 14 March 2008, [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1581635/Frederick-Seitz.html Frederick Seitz]</ref><ref>The Institute was described as a "central cog in the denial machine" in a ''[[Newsweek]]'' cover story on global warming. – {{cite news | url = http://www.newsweek.com/id/32482/page/1 | title = The Truth About Denial | first =Sharon | last = Begley | work = [[Newsweek]] | date = August 13, 2007 | access-date = October 17, 2007}}</ref> A 1990 report co-authored with Institute co-founders [[Robert Jastrow]] and [[William Nierenberg]] "centrally informed the [[George H. W. Bush|Bush]] administration's position on human-induced climate change".<ref>George E. Marcus, ''Paranoia within reason: a casebook on conspiracy as explanation'', [[University of Chicago Press]], 1999. p.117</ref> The Institute also promoted [[environmental skepticism]] more generally. In 1994, the Institute published a paper by Seitz titled ''Global warming and ozone hole controversies: A challenge to scientific judgment.'' Seitz questioned the view that [[CFCs]] "are the greatest threat to the [[ozone layer]]".<ref name="Conversationwith">{{cite web |title=A Conversation with Dr. Frederick Seitz |publisher=The George C. Marshall Institute |date=September 3, 1997 |url=http://www.marshall.org/article.php?id=21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706081937/http://www.marshall.org/article.php?id=21 |archive-date=2010-07-06 }}</ref> In the same paper, commenting on the dangers of secondary inhalation of tobacco smoke, he concluded "''there is no good scientific evidence that passive inhalation is truly dangerous under normal circumstances.''"<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Hirschhorn | first1 = Norbert | last2 = Aguinaga Bialous | first2 = Stella | year = 2001 | title = Second hand smoke and risk assessment: what was in it for the tobacco industry? | journal = Tobacco Control | volume = 10 | issue = 4| pages = 375–382 | doi = 10.1136/tc.10.4.375 | pmid=11740031 | pmc=1747615}}</ref>

Seitz was a central figure amongst [[global warming deniers]].<ref name=NYTobit /><ref>According to ''[[Merchants of Doubt]]'', Seitz was a central [[climate change denial]] figure.</ref> He was the highest-ranking scientist among a band of doubters who, beginning in the early 1990s, resolutely disputed suggestions that global warming was serious threat.<ref name=herts2006 /> Seitz argued that the science behind global warming was  inconclusive and "''certainly didn't warrant imposing mandatory limits on greenhouse-gas emissions''".<ref name=herts2006>Hertsgaard, Mark (May 2006). [http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/05/warming200605?currentPage=all While Washington Slept] ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]''.</ref> In 2001 Seitz and Jastrow questioned whether [[global warming]] is [[human impact on the environment|anthropogenic]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Seitz |first1=Frederick |last2=Jastrow |first2=Robert |title=Do people cause global warming? |url=http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=812 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101030060754/http://www.heartland.org/policybot/results/812/Do_people_cause_global_warming.html |date=1 December 2001 |archive-date=2010-10-30 |publisher=The Heartland Institute |access-date=2004-08-21 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Seitz signed the 1995 [[Leipzig Declaration]] and, in an open letter inviting scientists to sign the [[Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine]]'s [[Oregon Petition|global warming petition]], called for the United States to reject the [[Kyoto Protocol]].<ref name=NYTobit /> The letter was accompanied by a 12-page article on climate change which followed a style and format nearly identical to that of a contribution to [[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]] (PNAS), a scientific journal,<ref name=envirco2>{{cite web | url=http://www.oism.org/pproject/s33p36.htm | title=Environmental effects of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide | author=Arthur B. Robinson |author2=Sallie L. Baliunas | author3-link=Willie Soon |author3=Willie Soon |author4=Zachary W. Robinson | access-date=2008-07-14 | publisher=[[Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine|OISM]] and the [[George C. Marshall Institute]] |date=January 1998 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070114000614/http://www.oism.org/pproject/s33p36.htm | archive-date=2007-01-14 | author-link=Arthur B. Robinson | author2-link=Sallie L. Baliunas }}</ref> even including a date of publication ("October 26") and volume number ("Vol. 13: 149–164 1999"), but was not actually a publication of the National Academy of Science (NAS). In response the [[United States National Academy of Sciences]] took what the ''[[New York Times]]'' called "the extraordinary step of refuting the position of one [of] its former presidents."<ref name=NYTobit /><ref name=NAS200498>{{cite press release |url=http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=s04201998 |title=Statement by the Council of the National Academy of Sciences regarding Global Change Petition | publisher=[[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] |date=April 20, 1998 | access-date=2018-12-23 |quote=The NAS Council would like to make it clear that this petition has nothing to do with the National Academy of Sciences and that the manuscript was not published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences or in any other peer-reviewed journal.}}</ref><ref name="Science-1998">{{Cite journal
|author=David Malakoff |s2cid=152855137 |title=Climate change: Advocacy mailing draws fire |url=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/280/5361/195a |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]]
|volume=280 | issue=5361 | page=195 | date=10 April 1998|doi=10.1126/science.280.5361.195a|bibcode=1998Sci...280Q.195. |url-access=subscription }}</ref> The NAS also made it clear that "The petition does not reflect the conclusions of expert reports of the Academy."<ref name=NAS200498 />

Seitz worked extensively with [[Fred Singer]] during his consultancy career for tobacco and oil corporations in matters of health and climate change, respectively.<ref name = Oresk />

==Publishing==
Seitz wrote a range of scientific books in his field, including ''The Modern Theory of Solids'' (1940) and ''The Physics of Metals'' (1943). Later he co-authored books such as the ''Theory of Lattice Dynamics in the Harmonic Approximation'' (1971) and ''Solid State Physics''.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Solid State Physics: Advances in Research and Applications |volume=1|date=1955|publisher=Academic Press|author1=Frederick Seitz |author2=David Turnbull|location=New York|oclc=646775088}} {{isbn|978-0-08-086465-5}}.</ref> The latter, begun in 1955, with [[David Turnbull (materials scientist)|David Turnbull]], reached 60 volumes by 2008, with Seitz remaining an active editor until volume 38 in 1984.<ref name=PhysicsToday /> ''Solid State Physics'' continues to be published by Elsevier.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Book Series: Solid State Physics|url=https://www.elsevier.com/books/book-series/solid-state-physics|access-date=2021-02-12|website=www.elsevier.com}}</ref> After his retirement he co-authored a book on [[global warming]], published via the [[George C. Marshall Institute]] he chaired. He published his autobiography in 1994. Other works included biographies of American physicist [[Francis Wheeler Loomis]] (1991) and Canadian inventor [[Reginald Fessenden]] (1999), a history of [[silicon]], and a history of the US National Academy of Sciences (2007).

==Criticism==

In the early 1970s, Seitz became unpopular for his support of the Vietnam war, a position which most of his colleagues on the [[President's Science Advisory Committee]] did not share. In the late 1970s, Seitz also parted company with his scientific colleagues on questions of nuclear preparedness. Seitz was committed to "a muscular military strengthened by the most technologically advanced weaponry", while the scientific community generally supported arms limitations talks and treaties. Seitz was also ardently [[anti-communist]] and his support for aggressive weapons programs was a reflection of this.<ref name = Oresk>Oreskes, Naomi and Conway, Erik M. (2010). ''[[Merchants of Doubt]]: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming'', Bloomsbury, pp. 25–29.</ref>

In their book ''[[Merchants of Doubt]]'', science historians [[Naomi Oreskes]] and [[Erik M. Conway]] state that Seitz and a group of other scientists fought the scientific evidence and spread confusion on many of the most important issues of the 20th and 21st centuries like harmfulness of [[tobacco smoke]], [[acid rain]], [[Chlorofluorocarbon|CFC]]s, [[pesticides]] and [[global warming]]. Seitz said that American science had become "rigid", and his colleagues had become closed-minded and dogmatic. According to Oreskes and Conway, Seitz used normal uncertainties of scientific evidence to spread doubt about the harmfulness of tobacco smoke.<ref name="Oresk" />

Seitz was also a principal organizer of the infamous [[Oregon Petition]], where numerous signatories claimed that there was no evidence that greenhouse gases were responsible for global warming. Despite Seitz being a past President of the US [[National Academy of Sciences]], the NAS issued a press release stating "The petition project was a deliberate attempt to mislead scientists and to rally them in an attempt to undermine support for the Kyoto Protocol. The petition was not based on a review of the science of global climate change, nor were its signers experts in the field of climate science."<ref>{{cite web |publisher=US National Academy of Sciences |title=Statement by the Council of the National Academy of Sciences Regarding Global Change Petition |date=April 20, 1998 |url=http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=s04201998 |access-date=2019-12-16}}</ref> Journalists subsequently found that the identities of the vast majority of signatories could not be verified,<ref>Brown, Joe. 700 Club anchor touted global warming skeptics' petition reportedly signed by non-scientists, fictitious characters. Media Matters, 14th Feb 2006. https://www.mediamatters.org/research/2006/02/14/700-club-anchor-touted-global-warming-skeptics/134878</ref> because the petition's organizers had no process for identity authentication. Further, the supposed scientific article that claimed to refute global warming (and which accompanied the petition) was in fact a non-peer reviewed article from
the "Journal of the [[American Association of Physicians and Surgeons]]", which was published by Arthur Robinson, the petition's co-organizer.<ref>{{cite news |last=Grandia |first=Kevin |title=The 30,000 Global Warming Petition Is Easily-Debunked Propaganda |date=August 22, 2009 |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-grandia/the-30000-global-warming_b_243092.html |work=The Huffington Post}} Updated December 6, 2017.</ref> This journal advocates scientifically discredited viewpoints such as claiming that there is no connection between the HIV virus and AIDS, and is not indexed in [[PubMed]].

Oreskes and Conway were critical of Seitz's involvement in the tobacco industry. They stated that Seitz stood against the scientific consensus that smoking was dangerous to people's health, and helped to create confusion and doubt on this issue.

==Awards and recognition==
Seitz was elected to the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1946.<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Frederick+Seitz&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2023-03-22 |website=search.amphilsoc.org |archive-date=2023-03-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322134257/https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Frederick+Seitz&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |url-status=dead }}</ref> He was elected to the [[United States National Academy of Sciences]] in 1952, serving as its President from 1962 to 1969.<ref name=NAS /> He was elected to the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1962.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Frederick Seitz |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/frederick-seitz |access-date=2023-03-22 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |date=9 February 2023 |language=en}}</ref> He received the [[Franklin Medal]] (1965). In 1973 he was awarded the [[National Medal of Science]] "for his contributions to the modern quantum theory of the solid state of matter."<ref name=NYTobit /> He also received the United States Department of Defense Distinguished Service Award; the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Distinguished Public Service Award; and the Compton Award, the highest honor of the American Institute of Physics.<ref name=NYTobit /> In addition to Rockefeller University, 31 universities in the US and abroad awarded Seitz honorary degrees.<ref name=RU>Rockefeller University, 4 March 2008, [http://rlounsbery.org/news/frederick_seitz.asp Frederick Seitz – Lounsberry director and past president – dies at 96.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520042303/http://rlounsbery.org/news/frederick_seitz.asp |date=2011-05-20 }}</ref> He was also a member of the [[Council on Foreign Relations]].<ref name=RU />

Seitz served on a range of boards of charitable institutions, including (as chair) [[John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation]] (1976–1983<ref name=who />) and [[Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation]],<ref name=TDo /> and (as trustee) [[American Museum of Natural History]] (from 1975<ref name=who />) and [[Institute of International Education]].<ref name=TDo>Rockefeller University, [http://tobaccodocuments.org/lor/87697430-7434.html Biography of Frederick Seitz] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313025616/http://tobaccodocuments.org/lor/87697430-7434.html |date=2007-03-13 }}, November 1985</ref> He was also a board member of the [[Center for Strategic and International Studies]].<ref name=TDo /> Other appointments to a range of national and international agencies included serving on the [[Defense Science Board]] and serving as chair of the US delegation to the United Nations Committee on Science and Technology.<ref name=TDo /> He also served on the board of trustees of Science Service, now known as [[Society for Science & the Public]], from 1971 to 1974.

In 1981, Seitz became a founding member of the [[World Cultural Council]].<ref>{{cite web | title = About Us | publisher = [[World Cultural Council]] | url = http://www.consejoculturalmundial.org/about-us/ | access-date = November 8, 2016}}</ref>

==Positions held==
''Academic''
* [[Carnegie Tech]], head of the physics department (1946–?)<ref>{{cite web |title=Saxonburg Cyclotron 50th Reunion |url=http://info.phys.cmu.edu/welcome/news/Interactions/1997/Saxonburg50th.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071020005818/http://info.phys.cmu.edu/welcome/news/Interactions/1997/Saxonburg50th.html |archive-date=2007-10-20 }}</ref>
* [[University of Illinois]], professor of physics (1949–1964)<ref name=PhysicsToday /><!-- Ref needed for 1968-->
* [[American Institute of Physics]], chairman (1954–1959)<ref name=PhysicsToday />
* [[Academic Press]], editor (1955–1984)<ref name=PhysicsToday />
* [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization]], (1959–1960)<ref name=PhysicsToday />
* [[American Physical Society]], chairman (1961)<ref name=PhysicsToday />
* [[United States National Academy of Sciences]], president (1962–1969)<ref name=NAS />
* [[Rockefeller University]], president emeritus (1968–1978)<ref name=PhysicsToday />
* [[Physica Status Solidi]] B, editorial board member<ref>{{cite web|title=Physica Status Solidi: Meet the Board Members|url=http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122649431/grouphome/edbd.html#Seitz|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130105104243/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122649431/grouphome/edbd.html%23Seitz|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-01-05}}</ref>

''Private sector''
* [[George C. Marshall Institute]], co-founder, chairman (1984–2001)<ref name=indepinst /><ref name="archive1" /><ref name=PBS />
* [[Richard Lounsbery Foundation]], president (1995–1997),<ref name=who>[https://books.google.com/books?id=3NSTvJvIZR4C&pg=PA1514 The International Who's Who 2004], Europa Publications</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Richard Lounsbery Foundation |url=http://rlounsbery.org}}</ref> chairman (since 1998)<ref>Frederick Seitz, chairman of the Richard Lounsbery Foundation, at the 1998 Global Assembly of the World Academy of Art and Sciences, Vancouver BC, Canada</ref><ref name="Lounsbery_2008">{{cite web|url=https://www.rlounsbery.org/post/remembering-frederick-seitz-1911-2008|title=Remembering Frederick Seitz, 1911–2008|date=4 March 2008|work=Lounsbery Foundation|access-date=9 May 2020}}</ref>
* [[Science and Environmental Policy Project]], chair (?–?)<ref name="SEPP">[http://www.sepp.org/about%20sepp/boarddir.html Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP) Board of Directors] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060928121846/http://www.sepp.org/about%20sepp/boarddir.html |date=2006-09-28 }}, accessed 19 Sep 2010</ref>
* [[Advancement of Sound Science Center]], member of advisory board<ref>''[[New York Times]]'', 26 April 1998, [https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0912FD3B5B0C758EDDAD0894D0494D81 Industrial Group Plans to Battle Climate Treaty].</ref>

==Books==
* Frederick Seitz, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=akQlGwAACAAJ A matrix-algebraic development of the crystallographic groups]'', Princeton University, 1934
* Frederick Seitz, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=UqjQAAAAMAAJ The modern theory of solids]'', McGraw-Hill, 1940
* Frederick Seitz, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=NZghAAAAMAAJ The physics of metals]'', McGraw-Hill, 1943
* [[Robert Jastrow]], [[William Nierenberg|William Aaron Nierenberg]], Frederick Seitz, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=2n_iHAAACAAJ Global warming: what does the science tell us?]'', George C. Marshall Institute, 1990
* Robert Jastrow, William Aaron Nierenberg, Frederick Seitz, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=b7oRAQAAIAAJ Scientific perspectives on the greenhouse problem]'', Marshall Press, 1990
* Frederick Seitz, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=h6MSNAAACAAJ Francis Wheeler Loomis: August 4, 1889 – February 9, 1976]'', National Academy Press, 1991
* {{cite book |author=Frederick Seitz |title=On the Frontier, My Life in Science |publisher=American Institute of Physics |date=1994 |isbn=9781563961977 |oclc=231640410 }}
* [[Nikolaus Riehl]] and Frederick Seitz, ''Stalin's Captive: Nikolaus Riehl and the Soviet Race for the Bomb'' (American Chemical Society and the Chemical Heritage Foundations, 1996) {{ISBN|0-8412-3310-1}}.
: This book is a translation of Nikolaus Riehl's book ''Zehn Jahre im goldenen Käfig (Ten Years in a Golden Cage)'' (Riederer-Verlag, 1988); but Seitz wrote a lengthy introduction. It contains 58 photographs<!-- The original version called this book at "treasure trove", so it would be nice to know what the picture are about and why they are of stunning value-->.
* Frederick Seitz and Norman G. Einspruch, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=IT90cDPh54wC Electronic genie: the tangled history of silicon]'', [[University of Illinois Press]], 1998.
* Frederick Seitz, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=btzraYnY9E4C The science matrix: the journey, travails, triumphs]'', Springer, 1998.
* Frederick Seitz, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=zSALAAAAIAAJ The cosmic inventor Reginald Aubrey Fessenden (1866–1932)]'', American Philosophical Society, 1999
* Henry Ehrenreich, Frederick Seitz, [[David Turnbull (materials scientist)|David Turnbull]], Frans Spaepen, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=5DZhTK9bgKsC Solid state physics]'', [[Academic Press]], 2006
* Frederick Seitz, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=5J3Y9rNkQxwC A selection of highlights from the history of the National Academy of Sciences, 1863–2005]'', University Press of America, 2007.

== See also ==
* Seitz's criticism of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: {{section link|IPCC Second Assessment Report#Chapter 8: Detection of Climate Change and Attribution of Causes}}
* [[Wigner–Seitz radius]]
* [[Wigner–Seitz cell]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Chiroleu‐Assouline, Mireille, and Thomas P. Lyon. "Merchants of doubt: Corporate political action when NGO credibility is uncertain." ''Journal of Economics & Management Strategy'' 29.2 (2020): 439–461. [https://shs.hal.science/halshs-02552465/file/Merchants%20of%20Doubt_JEMS%20REVISION%202%20with%20Figures%20embedded%20in%20Black%20and%20White.pdf  online]
* De la Cruz Arboleda, Camilo Andrés. "Climate Change in the Era of Post-Truth." ''Ecology Law Quarterly'' 45.2 (2018): 419–426. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/26568800 online]
* Dunlap, Riley E., and Aaron M. McCright. "Climate change denial: sources, actors and strategies." in ''Routledge handbook of climate change and society'' (2010): 240–259. [https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/54997936/Dunlap___McCright_Routledge_HB__2010-libre.pdf?1510603405=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DDunlap_Mc_Cright_Routledge_HB_2010.pdf&Expires=1707453975&Signature=SbygEqMbPosgLsM2mvJvZFmnoJR4ss2YaF1BUsLbV3Fy7kjJ7~w1~gasLNzVzVaKRS8TJatA2nKZBKxpNttD~jLJWmBczV6-fyyumIljGyRTZSMVvJ4j7gOcU5stOkOqQcbO1mQY3wxU-HAHoQ1j4QgkBMQH7opu4yXoLgleAGmjSfnCZGRWpgWRDqPdhh7ftqvXOKMwBPcAxIHZDH-i5ZeTOFplV3al0~2SpA-cBvO9fZa8VZxUYYeYQV0klXCxyuHbnQt3W2akZPj5LPLBrbYTs~K4wQdaZFZl0bsN7yMurCpcbszkgz1goJz8DPSUhUJ5YFx1aIyVYbLJqIbM0Q__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209041205/https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/54997936/Dunlap___McCright_Routledge_HB__2010-libre.pdf?1510603405=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DDunlap_Mc_Cright_Routledge_HB_2010.pdf&Expires=1707453975&Signature=SbygEqMbPosgLsM2mvJvZFmnoJR4ss2YaF1BUsLbV3Fy7kjJ7~w1~gasLNzVzVaKRS8TJatA2nKZBKxpNttD~jLJWmBczV6-fyyumIljGyRTZSMVvJ4j7gOcU5stOkOqQcbO1mQY3wxU-HAHoQ1j4QgkBMQH7opu4yXoLgleAGmjSfnCZGRWpgWRDqPdhh7ftqvXOKMwBPcAxIHZDH-i5ZeTOFplV3al0~2SpA-cBvO9fZa8VZxUYYeYQV0klXCxyuHbnQt3W2akZPj5LPLBrbYTs~K4wQdaZFZl0bsN7yMurCpcbszkgz1goJz8DPSUhUJ5YFx1aIyVYbLJqIbM0Q__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA |date=2024-02-09 }}.
* Mann, Michael E. ''The new climate war: The fight to take back our planet'' (PublicAffairs, 2021) [https://books.google.com/books?id=z5flDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Frederick+Seitz%22+tobacco&pg=PT8].
* Oreskes, Naomi, and Erik M. Conway. ''Merchants of doubt: How a handful of scientists obscured the truth on issues from tobacco smoke to global warming'' (Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2011).
* Pinto, Manuela Fernandez. "To know or better not to: Agnotology and the social construction of ignorance in commercially driven research." ''Science & Technology Studies'' 30.2 (2017): 53–72. [https://sciencetechnologystudies.journal.fi/article/download/61030/25012online]

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100524213952/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3523253.ece Obituary in ''The Times'', 11 March 2008]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080310075314/http://newswire.rockefeller.edu/?page=engine&id=724 President Emeritus Frederick Seitz dies at 96](Rockefeller University Newswire)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070313025616/http://tobaccodocuments.org/lor/87697430-7434.html Official Rockefeller University scientific biography (1985)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100706081937/http://www.marshall.org/article.php?id=21 The George C. Marshall Institute: A Conversation with Dr. Frederick Seitz] – September 3, 1997
* [https://www.pbs.org/transistor/album1/addlbios/seitz.html Another biography from PBS]
* [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Frederick_Seitz SourceWatch article]
* [http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/05/warming200605 Vanity Fair article discussing Seitz's advocacy for tobacco and oil industries]
* {{usurped|[https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20120217115326/http://www.ideasinactiontv.com/tcs_daily/2006/04/vanity-scare.html Vanity Scare]}} (TCS Daily, April 14, 2006): rebuttal to Seitz article in Vanity Fair
*  [https://web.archive.org/web/20100109091753/http://www.logicalscience.com/skeptics/frederick-seitz.html Frederick Seitz from Logical Science] Notes on Seitz's work on health studies funded by the tobacco industry and on global warming for Exxon Mobil front organizations

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{{s-bef|before=[[Detlev Bronk]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=President of the [[National Academy of Sciences]]|years=1962–1969}}
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{{s-bef|before=[[Detlev Bronk]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=President of the [[Rockefeller University]]|years=1968–1978}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Joshua Lederberg]]}}
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{{NAS presidents}}
{{Presidents of the American Physical Society}}
{{Founding members of the World Cultural Council}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seitz, Frederick}}
[[Category:1911 births]]
[[Category:2008 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American physicists]]
[[Category:American people of German descent]]
[[Category:National Medal of Science laureates]]
[[Category:Vannevar Bush Award recipients]]
[[Category:Presidents of Rockefeller University]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Presidents of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Founding members of the World Cultural Council]]
[[Category:George C. Marshall Institute]]
[[Category:Presidents of the American Physical Society]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:Lick-Wilmerding High School alumni]]
[[Category:Recipients of Franklin Medal]]