Thought there will be no celebration, tomorrow will mark an anniversary, Two years ago, with humming, crackling, and much publicity, Harvard's brand new cyclotron first went into action. This 125,000 volt particle pusher is the core of a new set of buildings on Oxford Street which comprises the Nuclear Laboratory.

Since 1937 Harvard has owned one of the oldest cyclotrons in the world, housing it in the Gordon McKay Laboratory. However, in 1943 the Physics Department lost its machine to the US Army Engineers who carried it off to Los Alamos for research on the A-bomb. When it became apparent that the Army was not going to part with the antique, University physicists set about designing a bigger and better model.

This turned out to be a break for physicists in general because the new cyclotron filled a gap in their tool-chest. Cyclotrons are used to bombard target material with particles traveling at different rates of speed. To get a whole range of speeds, physicists need several cyclotrons of different power. Before the new Harvard cyclotron appeared, there was only one very powerful mode--the 400,000,000 volt job owned by the University of California--and quite a few smaller ones of not much more than 30,000 volts. The Harvard cyclotron helped to provide the much wanted middle range of power and speed.

The new cyclotron was also a break for Harvard physicists in particular because they got a new laboratory in the deal. the University supplied $500,000 to set up on Oxford Street a two-story brick building, complete with ivy, office space, research rooms, and a machine shop; a connecting passage, and a windowless gray structure to house the cyclotron.

The foundation under the gray building is dirt and concrete 15 feet down. All the walls are filled concrete--the outer one three feet thick and the inner one, surrounding the cyclotron, six feet thick.

Anyone who wants to get at the cyclotron for minor repairs can go through a small seven-ton door in the inner wall. For a major overhaul the maintenance crew can open the two 110 ton doors at the West end or the two 60 ton ones at the East end. These slabs are pushed back and forth on roller tracks by a large crane hitched to the ceiling. The total shielding around the machine amounts to some 600 cubic yards of concrete and 34,000 pounds of structural steel.

The University has to set up special facilities for the water supply, for it takes about 150 gallons per minute to cool the big magnet. Using city water for this would have cost too much, so the University dug its own wells, one for drawing and another for draining.

Moreover, there had to be special facilities for the electricity supply as well. the Nuclear Laboratory uses so much power that a new sub-station had to be built. (The University buys its electricity at very high voltage and builds all the sub-stations to step it down. It is cheaper that way.) The Laboratory also sports a 250 kilowatt generator to supply the DC power for the cyclotron's magnetic field.

To control all this power there are thirty miles of wiring, most of it stuffed neatly into long trenches and connecting banks of relays.

Railroad Set Size

The magnet itself weighs 700 tons. It was the Railroad that actually determined the maximum size this cyclotron could be. The parts for anything bigger than the Nuclear Laboratory has already would never have made the clearances along the line from Home-stead, Pennsylvania, where the machine was built, to Boston. Once the parts were in Cambridge, the University had to send all the way to California for experts to assemble and install them. the cost of the cyclotron and its installation amounted to about $1,000,000, which was paid for by the U.S. Navy. The Navy also pays for maintenance and operation of the cyclotron--$500,000 to date.

The cyclotron keeps a busy schedule. It is used by full-time researchers attached to the project, members of the Physics Department, and even graduate students. There is an assignment book where anyone hatching a theory or just looking for information can sign up to use the machine. The cyclotron usually operates all day, often at night, and over the weekends as well.

Because of all the radioactivity and high tension whispering around the premises, the Nuclear Laboratory is festooned with all sorts of safety devices. Almost everything movable has interlocking mechanisms which prevent men from hurting the machine and the machine from hurting men.

Plenty of Warning

If someone happened to be standing beside the cyclotron when a test was about to begin, "he's have to be deaf dumb, and blind not to be able to do anything about it." First the white lights would go off and red lights would begin to flash. A gong would sound, and just in case these measures were not convincing enough, the operator's voice would boom out a warning over the loud-speaker.