text: Ghiorso was born in Vallejo, California on July 15, 1915, of Italian and Spanish ancestry. He grew up in Alameda, California. Living near the Oakland International Airport, he became interested in airplanes, aeronautics, and other technologies. After graduating from high school, he built radio circuitry and earned a reputation for establishing radio contacts at distances that outdid the military.
  He received his BS in electrical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1937. After graduation, he worked for Reginald Tibbets, a prominent amateur radio operator who operated a business supplying radiation detectors to the government. Ghiorsos ability to develop and produce these instruments, as well as a variety of electronic tasks, brought him into contact with the nuclear scientists at the University of California Radiation Laboratory at Berkeley, in particular Glenn Seaborg. During a job in which he was to install an intercom at the lab, he met two secretaries, one of whom married Seaborg. The other, Wilma Belt, became Alberts wife of 60+ years.
  Ghiorso was raised in a devout Christian family, but later left the religion and became an atheist. However, he still identified with Christian ethics.