Physics History Made on February 20, 1934

On this day in 1934 the cyclotron was patented. The cyclotron was one of the first circular particle accelerators. It moved charged protons between electrodes until they are highly charged particles. The cyclotron was designed and built by Ernest O. Lawrence. He had made a mashup model in 1931 but waited to patent it. He was not out to make personal gain but to advance science. He worked at Yale and at U of C Berkeley where two laboratories are named after him. He also has an element named after him, lawrencium. His desire to advance science and not increase his own pocketbook paid off. In 1939 he received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his cyclotron.