Physics: A Cool New Atom Smasher

In their efforts to probe more deeply into the mysterious subatomic world and its host of recently discovered particles, scientists are rapidly refining and adding to the spectacular tools of high-energy physics: the massive and powerful bevatrons, cyclotrons, synchrotrons and linear accelerators. The latter are designed to fire beams of particles, usually high-speed electrons, down a long copper tube at experimental targets. Stanford University, for example, now has a two-mile-long atom-smashing model called SLAC (TIME, July 22). SLAC, which stands for Stanford Linear Accelerator, is just beginning its experimental program. Yet last week Stanford Physicist Alan Schwettman reported in...

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