NPA Seminar: Edward Fenner, York University, “Smashing Atoms for Science & Profit: A brief history of the Van de Graaff Generator & High Voltage Engineering Corporation”

Pioneering American physicists Robert J. Van de Graaff and John G. Trump, in 1946, created High Voltage Engineering Corporation (HVEC) to meet the intense demand for “atom smashers” for the new field of experimental atomic physics. HVEC would, for a time, be the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality accelerators and, over the several decades design, make, and distribute over 500 accelerators around the globe – many of which are still in use. This seminar will discuss: What kinds of contributions did these scientists and their machines make? How did a couple of virtuous professors end up as reluctant entrepreneurs? How influential was this company and technology to entrepreneurial science? Why mass-produce accelerators, anyway?