"1939 for his invention of the cyclotron atom-smasher" - is "atom smasher" colloquial? I've always thought it is, and if that is the case, it is probably redundant.
"and two years later became the youngest full professor at the University of California" - "becoming the youngest full professor there two years later."
"high-energy particles and pondered how to make the accelerator more compact. He created a circular accelerating chamber" - "high-energy particles. Contemplating how to make the accelerator more compact..."
"more than enough for his PhD thesis." - this could be expanded, even just to say "more than enough to obtain the results he needed for his PhD thesis."
"Lawrence found an 80-ton magnet" - "The magnet for the $800 11-inch cyclotron weighed 2 tons, and the magnet for the 27-inch one weighed 80 tons." - removes the possibility that he stumbled across 80 tons of magnet.
No, he stumbled across 80-tons of magnet. It was used by the Navy for something. I'll have to expand this, but haven't got the book on hand here. Please give me a few days.
Hawkeye7 (
talk)
21:26, 20 September 2013 (UTC)reply
This link is from the American Institute of Physics, so definitely satisfies RS.
"well within the capability of the 11-inch cyclotron." - ref needed
Something of a contradiction between the paragraph beginning "Through his increasingly..." and the previous one. Perhaps "this did not translate immediately into scientific discovery" would make more sense?
"Lawrence had already thought about the problem of uranium enrichment, for only the uranium-235 isotope is fissile." - "Lawrence had already thought about the problem of uranium enrichment, for only the uranium-235 isotope will undergo the fission reaction necessary to create a bomb" - or something like that
"One way of separating the isotopes was with a mass spectrometer, so Lawrence began converting his old 37-inch cyclotron into a giant mass spectrometer" - "One of the proposed ways of separating the isotopes was with a mass spectrometer, so Lawrence began converting his old 37-inch cyclotron for that purpose."
No, that is not correct. It wasn't a proposed way; it was already known to work. But it only produced small quantities, and could not be used on an industrial scale.
Hawkeye7 (
talk)
22:30, 20 September 2013 (UTC)reply
"laboratory mass spectrometer and cyclotron" - "and the cyclotron"
"scientifically elegant" - according to whom? I know Feynman hated it.
Y Probably for this reason. Gaseous diffusion was a better solution, but no one knew how to get it to work. Basically, the technology risk in the electromagnetic method was low.
Hawkeye7 (
talk)
22:30, 20 September 2013 (UTC)reply
Stone & Webster can be linked. (A reference for their building it would also be nice)
"requirements for big machines and big money" - "costly apparatus and large teams of experimenters" Some references for this paragraph as well would be good.
"a new linear accelerator and a new billion electron volt synchrotron which became known at the bevatron" - "a new linear accelerator and a billion electron volt synchrotron which later became known at the bevatron"
"Lawrence banned Robert Oppenheimer's brother" - is "banned" the most appropriate word here. It's hard to tell if he was forced to leave or not allowed to take up a position.
Extremely readable article,
coming from here in just a month. I'm surprised by the chattiness of the prose in some parts, but on reflection, I think it prevents it from being unreadably dry.
Jamesx12345
21:52, 20 September 2013 (UTC)reply
I've always thought that "jams" must be 1, even without a satisfactory
numerological explanation, and some brackets. I'll probably remove that tragic experiment in html anyway, and promote the article now. Good work again.
Jamesx1234511:28, 22 September 2013 (UTC)reply
"1939 for his invention of the cyclotron atom-smasher" - is "atom smasher" colloquial? I've always thought it is, and if that is the case, it is probably redundant.
"and two years later became the youngest full professor at the University of California" - "becoming the youngest full professor there two years later."
"high-energy particles and pondered how to make the accelerator more compact. He created a circular accelerating chamber" - "high-energy particles. Contemplating how to make the accelerator more compact..."
"more than enough for his PhD thesis." - this could be expanded, even just to say "more than enough to obtain the results he needed for his PhD thesis."
"Lawrence found an 80-ton magnet" - "The magnet for the $800 11-inch cyclotron weighed 2 tons, and the magnet for the 27-inch one weighed 80 tons." - removes the possibility that he stumbled across 80 tons of magnet.
No, he stumbled across 80-tons of magnet. It was used by the Navy for something. I'll have to expand this, but haven't got the book on hand here. Please give me a few days.
Hawkeye7 (
talk)
21:26, 20 September 2013 (UTC)reply
This link is from the American Institute of Physics, so definitely satisfies RS.
"well within the capability of the 11-inch cyclotron." - ref needed
Something of a contradiction between the paragraph beginning "Through his increasingly..." and the previous one. Perhaps "this did not translate immediately into scientific discovery" would make more sense?
"Lawrence had already thought about the problem of uranium enrichment, for only the uranium-235 isotope is fissile." - "Lawrence had already thought about the problem of uranium enrichment, for only the uranium-235 isotope will undergo the fission reaction necessary to create a bomb" - or something like that
"One way of separating the isotopes was with a mass spectrometer, so Lawrence began converting his old 37-inch cyclotron into a giant mass spectrometer" - "One of the proposed ways of separating the isotopes was with a mass spectrometer, so Lawrence began converting his old 37-inch cyclotron for that purpose."
No, that is not correct. It wasn't a proposed way; it was already known to work. But it only produced small quantities, and could not be used on an industrial scale.
Hawkeye7 (
talk)
22:30, 20 September 2013 (UTC)reply
"laboratory mass spectrometer and cyclotron" - "and the cyclotron"
"scientifically elegant" - according to whom? I know Feynman hated it.
Y Probably for this reason. Gaseous diffusion was a better solution, but no one knew how to get it to work. Basically, the technology risk in the electromagnetic method was low.
Hawkeye7 (
talk)
22:30, 20 September 2013 (UTC)reply
Stone & Webster can be linked. (A reference for their building it would also be nice)
"requirements for big machines and big money" - "costly apparatus and large teams of experimenters" Some references for this paragraph as well would be good.
"a new linear accelerator and a new billion electron volt synchrotron which became known at the bevatron" - "a new linear accelerator and a billion electron volt synchrotron which later became known at the bevatron"
"Lawrence banned Robert Oppenheimer's brother" - is "banned" the most appropriate word here. It's hard to tell if he was forced to leave or not allowed to take up a position.
Extremely readable article,
coming from here in just a month. I'm surprised by the chattiness of the prose in some parts, but on reflection, I think it prevents it from being unreadably dry.
Jamesx12345
21:52, 20 September 2013 (UTC)reply
I've always thought that "jams" must be 1, even without a satisfactory
numerological explanation, and some brackets. I'll probably remove that tragic experiment in html anyway, and promote the article now. Good work again.
Jamesx1234511:28, 22 September 2013 (UTC)reply