Synchrotron
Sincrotrón
- Date
- 1944-1945 · confidence high
- Place
- Moscow, Russia
- Credited to
- Vladimir Veksler; Edwin McMillan (independently)
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Veksler proposes in Moscow the principle of phase stability that allows particles to be accelerated to much higher energies by varying the magnetic field over time; McMillan independently reaches the same idea in Berkeley and builds the first synchrotron a year later.
Veksler's publication in a Soviet journal (though in English) had little circulation, so McMillan developed the idea without knowing of it; both shared the Atoms for Peace Award in 1963.
What it led to
- High-energy electron and proton accelerators
- Large particle physics facilities (synchrotrons and colliders)
- Synchrotron light sources for materials and biology research