Lawrence and His Laboratory: A History of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Volume 1The Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley, California, was the birthplace of particle accelerators, radioisotopes, and modern big science. This first volume of its history is a saga of physics and finance in the Great Depression, when a new kind of science was born. Here we learn how Ernest Lawrence used local and national technological, economic, and manpower resources to build the cyclotron, which enabled scientists to produce high-voltage particles without high voltages. The cyclotron brought Lawrence forcibly and permanently to the attention of leaders of international physics in Brussels at the Solvay Congress of 1933. Ever since, the Rad Lab has played a prominent part on the world stage. The book tells of the birth of nuclear chemistry and nuclear medicine in the Laboratory, the discoveries of new isotopes and the transuranic elements, the construction of the ultimate cyclotron, Lawrence's Nobel Prize, and the energy, enthusiasm, and enterprise of Laboratory staff. Two more volumes are planned to carry the story through the Second World War, the establishment of the system of national laboratories, and the loss of Berkeley's dominance of high-energy physics. |
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A.H. Compton Abelson accelerator Aebersold alpha particles Alvarez apparatus atomic beam Berkeley beryllium Bethe Birge Bloch Bohr bombardment California Caltech Cavendish Chadwick chamber Cockcroft and Walton Compton Cottrell Curie cyclo cyclotron dees deuterons discovery disintegration DuBridge electrical electrons elements energy engineering Ernest Lawrence experiments Fermi fission Frisch gamma rays Graaff Hahn Henderson hydrogen ibid ions isotopes John Lawrence Joliot June Kamen Karl Compton Laslett Lauritsen Lawrence to Cockcroft Lawrence to Poillon Lawrence's letter Lewis Livingood Livingston machine magnet McMillan Meitner Nahmias neutrons Nobel nuclear physics nucleus Oliphant Oppenheimer oscillator patent phys physicists plate production protons quote Radiation Laboratory radioactive radium reactions rec'd Research Corporation Rockefeller Foundation Rutherford Seaborg Segrč Sloan Sproul Szilard target Tesla coil tion transuranics tron tube Tuve University uranium Urey Van de Graaff voltage Weart Weaver x rays