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Book on Lawrence
I believe it was in a recent Tesla Coil Builders news there was a brief
article on the book Lawrence & His Laboratory, A History of the Lawrence
Berkely Laboratory, Volume 1 by J.L. Heilbron and Robert W. Seidel,
Uninversity of California Press, 1989. I tried to order it and learned it is
no longer available. I was albe to get it from our local library (they had
to borrow it from a university).
It is a super book. It describes how in the early days of particle
accelerators they did not have any reasonable means to generate high
voltages. Three basic means were ultimately used: the Tesla coil was used by
some, the Van de Graaff generator and the Cockcroft - Walton multiplier
systems. The Cockcroft - Walton systems won out in the long run in
conjunction with newer and higher power transformers.
The book goes on to describe the early days of various accelerators and
cyclotrons along with all the players at the time. Definitely a good read.
Ed Sonderman