Robert Jemison Van de Graaff was an American physicist who invented the Van de Graaff generator in 1929, an electrostatic machine that builds up very high voltage by carrying electric charge on a continuously moving belt to a hollow metal dome. His design was later scaled up to power early particle accelerators and, in a medical form, some of the first radiotherapy machines used to treat cancer.
Facts
FieldPhysics, particle accelerators 1 Field
Field (category) Connections
Invented
Why this is disputed. Named for its inventor, though the belt-driven electrostatic generator built on earlier work by others in the same tradition.
Source Robert Jemison Van de Graaff (Britannica)
Namesake Of
Source Van de Graaff Generator (Wikipedia)
Works In
Source Robert Jemison Van de Graaff (Britannica)
Sources
1. Robert Jemison Van de Graaff (Britannica)
Van de Graaff Generator (Wikipedia)
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