Science: Bevatron at Work

On Charter Hill above Berkeley, Calif, a strange and monstrous machine, the AEC's bevatron,* was slowly coming to life last week. Housed in a circular building 75 feet high is a steel doughnut 135 feet in diameter and weighing 10,000 tons. This is the world's greatest magnet, energized by current flowing through 26.5 miles of copper cable two inches thick. When its current was first turned on, a crashing clatter shook the bevatron building as iron objects on the floor rearranged themselves violently to fit the invisible pattern of its magnetic field.

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