US physicist Ernest Lawrence (1901-1958, front row bottom, fifth from right) sitting on the magnet used in the 60-inch cyclotron, a form of particle accelerator that he invented. The magnet, weighing over 200, 000 kg, was used to keep accelerated particles in a spiral. Positioned within the magnet are scientists and technical staff from Berkeley Laboratory, notably including J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967, back row, fourth from right). Oppenheimer led the Manhattan Project (of which Lawrence was a member) to create the first atomic bomb in 1945. Photographed at Berkley Laboratory, University of California, USA in 1938. |