Gregory Robert Choppin was born on November 9, 1927 in Tallahassee, and died on October 21, 2015.
Gregory was a nuclear chemist, co-discoverer of the chemical element of atomic number 101, next to Albert Ghiorso, Bernard G. Harvey, Stanley G. Thompson, and Glenn T. Seaborg.
In 1956, Gregory joined the Department of Chemistry at Florida State University.
He served as director of the department from 1968 to 1977 and again from 1993 to 1994.
In 1967, he was named Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor, a position he holds to this day.
Its main research concern the chemistry of lanthanides and actinides especially the study of the kinetics and thermodynamics of the complexation, behavior redox of these elements and its implications on the environment.
Gregory earned his degree in chemistry at Loyola University in New Orleans with a rating of maximum cum laude and received his doctorate in 1953 at the University of Texas (Austin).
From 1953 to 1956, Gregory was a postdoctoral research associate at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California, where he worked with Glenn T. Seaborg and his team on the discovery of new chemical elements.
Gregory Choppin passed away October 21 2015.