The official speech of Prof. Oliver Manuel, University of Missoury, Rolla, USA

The book that I am presenting today contains the proceedings of an Internationa l Symposium organized by Nobel Laurate Glenn T. Seaborg shortly before his death in February 1999.

The first chapter gives a summary of Glenn's remarkable career as a scientist, a leading aducator and a member of the administrations of President Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, including the naming of elements n. 106 as Seaborgium in 1997. The first chapter is the text for a video that is to accompany the book in your library.

The second chapter of this book tells the culmination of Professor Seaborg's career with the discovery of elements n. 108, 116 and 114 in his laboratoy just before the symposium.

The book also contains the final chapter in the career of another great scientisist, my mentor, Professor Paul K. Kuroda. This is the man who redicted in 1950's that self-sustaining nuclear chain reactions might have occurred naturally in the hydrothermal deposits of uranium in the Pre-Cambrian era. This prediction was confirmed by a team of scientists with the French Atomic Energy Commission in 1972, and it is widely known today as the Oklo phenomenon.

In 1940, Professor Kuroda predicted the presence of ²⁴⁴Pu in the early solar system and in 1945, he discovered its decay products in the Pasamonte meteorite.

Since ²⁴⁴Pu cannot be produced by any process other than the r-process of nucleosynthesis in a supernova, it is the onl extinct nuclide that can unambiguously be used to date the last supernova event.

The book also contains chapters by many leading authorities, including the keynote address by Professor Geoffrey Burbidge.

Professor Kuroda died in april of this year. He and the Foundation for Chemical Research provided the financial support that made possible this summary of our understanding of the origin of the elements at the end of the 20^th century.

The philosophical basis for our scientific endeavours, from the Upanishads, is given at the Preface:

Truth is victorious, never untruth"

This foundation of science would, if understood, relieve editors and leaders of the scientific community of their presumed responsability to indentify truths and untruths in each new manuscript.

The cover of the book show the cradle of the nuclides - the shape that emerge from plotting the 3000 data points for all of the known nuclides.

In addition to offering a solution to the solar neutrino puzzle, this contains an unspoken spiritual message of encouragement to all of us on the journey of life, especially to those who are seeking to understand nature:

"Fear not, the universe is in good hands"

On behalf of hte Foundation for Chemical Research Inc., and the late Professor Paul K. Kuroda, I am pleased to present this book on "The Origin of Elements in the Solar System" for the library at the Osservatorio astronomico di Palermo.