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Mark III Linear Electron Accelerator

Mark III Linear Electron Accelerator

Image creditOffice of Naval Research (U.S. Navy), 1950s
Public domain ↗

Mark III Linear Electron Accelerator

Year
1950
Creator
William W. Hansen and the Stanford Microwave Laboratory
Company
Stanford University Microwave Laboratory (later the High Energy Physics Laboratory)
Location
Stanford, California

Description

The Mark III was a linear accelerator at Stanford that used microwave power from a line of klystrons to push electrons to high energies. Its first 30-foot section operated on November 30, 1950.

Importance

The Office of Naval Research paid for the Mark III, which used klystrons like the tube that the Varian brothers invented at Stanford. Robert Hofstadter used it to measure the size and shape of atomic nuclei and the proton, and he received the 1961 Nobel Prize in Physics. Its success led to the two-mile Stanford Linear Accelerator, which started research in 1966.

Interesting fact

The first section of the earlier Mark I accelerator was so small that William Hansen and three students carried it on their shoulders.

Sources

  1. MARK ↗SLAC Archives, History and Records Office
  2. Early linacs ↗Symmetry magazine (Fermilab/SLAC) · 2005-08
  3. Robert Hofstadter: Facts ↗Nobel Prize Outreach
  4. Mark III linear electron accelerator (Office of Naval Research photograph and caption) ↗Office of Naval Research via Wikimedia Commons
  5. SLAC Milestones ↗SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Archives, History and Records Office