MIT Institute Archives & Special Collections presents Illustrations from "Progress Report on the M.I.T. High-Voltage Generator at Round Hill," by K. T. Compton, L. C. Van Atta, and R. J. Van de Graaff,
December 12, 1933.
MIT has a long history of energy research. The photograph reproduced here is a 1933 time-lapse image of the “flash-over” emitted by MIT's High-Voltage Generator at Round Hill a few weeks after it first became operational. Known colloquially as the “Van de Graaff Generator,” the apparatus was designed to supply high voltage to accelerate subatomic particles to very high velocities for the bombardment and study of atomic nuclei. It also had important applications in clinical research.
Read more, and see more electrifying images from the MIT Institute Archives & Special Collections Object of the Month...
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