07:58 pm - Atom Smasher.
Experiments to investigate atoms and sub atomic particles require huge
pieces of apparatus to generate the high energies needed. Modern
particle accelerators can be many kilometers long. This is only one
section of an accelerator used at the University of Edinburgh for
nuclear physics research from 1950.
This portion is an electric
circuit which produced a very high voltage. This type of circuit was
used by John Cockroft and Ernest Walton in the first apparatus to 'smash
the atom' in 1932 and some large ones remained in use as part of even
bigger equipment in the 21th century. Smaller versions of this circuit
were used to provide the high voltage needed by cathode ray tube
televisions.