Word: cyclotron
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Physicist Dean B. Cowie, 28, was standing about two feet away from the new cyclotron at Carnegie Institution of Washington. The date was Dec. 31, 1943. Unexpectedly, the cyclotron worked on its first trial. Cowie was hit by a charge of neutrons that may have been as much as 15 million volts. In spite of three operations, he is now blind in one eye. He can barely see out of the other, but hopes it will improve after an operation...
...cyclotron, man's first atom-smasher, is apparently most dangerous when it is just starting its first magnetic merry-go-round and still needs adjusting. The deadly neutrons give no warning; there is no sensation of light, heat or pressure; the effect may not be felt for years. But the neutrons can cause cataracts much like those that sometimes form with old age. One difference is that cyclotron cataracts are on the back of the lens...
Sure enough, the heavens opened; the rain beat down upon Kern County. Dr. Fenenga then took his bag to Berkeley and found the great cyclotron buildings drenched with welcome rain. With a solemn face, he presented the rainmaking bag, beaver tail, eagle down & all, to the University of California...
Since magnets were installed last spring, the machine can already duplicate such levitation feats as those that newsmen saw recently at the dedication of Columbia's cyclotron. But Harvard's physicists are waiting until the machine is finished before showing these stunts...
When completed next year, the cyclotron will be one of the four biggest in the world. Scientists will direct the machine's work toward the interactions of protons, neutrons, electrons, and other fundamental particles...