Farewell to the Bevatron

LBNL has a flicker photo galley of the Bevatron, some of which are posted below.The 10,000 ton Bevatron is a weak focusing synchrotron that was closely watched by Physics Today , both during construction and for the scientific results it produced. Paul Dirac had predicted the existence of antimatter in the 1930s and the Bevatron’s mission—as the most powerful accelerator in the world—was to discover the antiproton (which it did) and explore the fundamental physics behind hadrons using beams of 6.2-GeV protons.The Bevatron had a number of upgrades during its lifetime in an attempt to regain its status as one of the most powerful synchrotrons in the world, and to continue to do interesting science.In 1960 the Bevatron had a three-year upgrade which cost more than the initial construction ($9.6 million) and increased the intensity of the proton beam by a factor of four. In 1967, metal fatigue shut the Bevatron down for three months while repairs were made. In the early 1970s the accelerator switched to nitrogen ions , which were more energetic than the protons initially used in the accelerator, and made the Bevatron more attractive to the biological sciences.By linking parts of the Bevatron with other equipment at LBNL— the SuperHILAC serving as the injector and the Bevatron as an accelerator—the Bevalac accelerator was created in 1974 which led to a completely new field of research: relativistic heavy-ion reactions. This time carbon-12 ions were injected into the ring (reaching 2.1 GeV), which regained LBNL’s reputation of having the most powerful heavy-ion accelerator in the world.Improvements to the Bevalac continued well into the 1980s. In 1982 new upgrades, which included a new vacuum system for the Bevatron, allowed the Bevalac to accelerate uranium ions .In science, research at the Bevatron led to at least four Nobel Prizes, one for the discovery of the antiproton by Emilio Segré and Owen Chamberlain.The Bevatron’s beam was finally turned off in 1993 by one of the people who built it: Edward Lofgren. Related Physics Today articles Bevatron Launched (1954) During the next three years (1961) The Bevatron Reactivated (1963) Bevatron Shut Down 3 Months: Metal Fatigue in Alternator (1967) Long-lived kaon shows no 2-muon decay (1971) Two accelerators switch to nitrogen ions (1971) Conflicting evidence for K-meson decay (1972) Bevalac makes a successful debut (1974) Bevalac accelerates uranium (1982) Probing Dense Nuclear Matter in the Laboratory (1993)

The Bevatron occupied 125,000 square feet of land at the center of LBNL. This is how it appeared in 1995. The 184-inch accelerator sits under the dome.

And it was the man the lab is named after Ernest O. Lawrence that managed to secure the funding to get it built. In the picture above the first part of the accelerator ring is mapped out in steel and concrete.

Wide-angle view of the remodeled Bevatron in the early 1960s shows extensive new shielding, including seven-foot-thick concrete roof and “igloo” at hub. Taking in the view from the top are Lawrence Radiation Laboratory Director Edwin McMillan and Bevatron Group Leader Edwin Lofgren. Because of the radiation produced by the Bevatron during its operation, the concrete is now radioactive.

Today parts of the shielding have already been demolished, and within the next three years, the structure will be completely gone.