Mark Oliphant FRS and the Birmingham Proton Synchrotron

The years immediately after World War II saw the development of a new generation of particle accelerators known as “proton synchrotrons”. These provided beams of particles carrying energy an order of magnitude greater than previously available, permitting study of phenomena not previously accessible for examination. The first such machine to be proposed, funded, designed and commenced was initiated at the University of Birmingham by Australian-born physicist Mark Oliphant FRS. Nearly concurrently, two similar machines were commenced in the United States, the Cosmotron at Brookhaven and the Bevatron at Berkeley. While it is generally acknowledged that Oliphant was one of three researchers (the others being the American McMillan and the Russian Veksler) to have independently come upon the operating principles of the synchrotron, this thesis demonstrates that he was more than simply “first among equals” in this field. Developed by examination of primary sources not previously systematically studied, a chronology of Oliphant's activities in this field clearly shows that he was well in advance of others in proposing the use of such a machine to accelerate protons. Furthermore, his ideas had significant influence on the teams building the American machines. We also demonstrate that the Birmingham accelerator was in large measure an embodiment of Oliphant's own personality and style, for better and for worse. Without his initiative and influence, and the utilization of the considerable “capital” accumulated through his career, the machine would not even have been commenced in economically-stressed immediate post-war Britain. The enterprise reflected his preferred way of working; a minimum of detailed, reliance on innovation to solve problems as they arose and inadequate use of engineering expertise. For these and other reasons, his accelerator was not the first to generate a beam, despite its lead time. The thesis sets this pioneering endeavour against a number of backgrounds: Oliphant's long involvement with accelerator building; the growth of the technology of experimental nuclear physics through previous decades and the growth of the phenomenon of Big Science. It also recounts in detail the conception, funding, design, construction and impact of the machine up until its shutdown in 1967