Description

Earle F. White's head peeks over a drum-shaped section of MIT's cyclotron as he adjusts something.

Original caption: "From the Office of Public Relations, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 39, Massachusetts, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE // This is M.I.T.'s cyclotron which accelerates particles up to 31,000,000 electron volts. The machine whirls ionized particles around in a vacuum chamber, accelerating them by periodical electrical kicks, and then deflects them into an adjacent experimental area, which was recently enlarged. The cyclotron is principally used in nuclear physics research as an atom smasher. The beam blasts apart the nuclei of target materials and the energies and bits of mass that result are then studied for clues to the structure and properties of the nuclei. The machine is also used to irradiate stable elements and produce radioactive variations of them called radioisotopes. Earle White, chief operator, adjusts the cyclotron's deflector, located at the end of the dee line (big tube at right). The large flat cylinders contain the magnet coils. -30- November 5, 1963"