44.135 - ELECTRICITY - Science Service Historical Image Collection

1933 - looking up through the huge insulating column to the spherical terminal on one of the two units of the 10,000,000 volt direct current generator designed by Dr. Robert J. Van de Graaff

BOMBARDMENT AGAINST THE ATOM

CD 1967011 E&MP44.135

Electricity

December 2, 1933

Looking up through the huge insulating column to the spherical terminal on one of the two units of the 10,000,000 volt direct current generator designed by Dr. Robert J. Van de Graaff of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a major offensive on the heart of the atom.

Each unit is equipped with one of these 48-inch paper belts upon which electrical charges are carried up and stored in the big aluminum terminals.

At the top, within the sphere, is a compact circular laboratory where research workers, their bodies charged to the full voltage of the generator, will study the effects of the electrical bombardment against the atom.