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1948: First Betatron in Canada
Active support from the Board of Governors, President Thomson, the
provincial government and in particular, two years’ of intensive lobbying from
physics professors Harold Johns, Ertle Harrington, Newman Haslam, and Leon Katz
culminated in the University of Saskatchewan becoming the only site in Canada
to have a 25 million electron-volt betatron in 1948.
The betatron gave the department of physics a first-class facility for
radiation treatment research and nuclear research, and the “succession of
publications” which followed helped maintain a national reputation for the
department and its students. Indeed,
their work has had a cumulative effect for the institution. The betatron “showed that the
department...warranted a linear accelerator facility,”1
which in turn helped demonstrate the suitability of locating the synchrotron on the
University campus.
Obtaining Canada’s first betatron in 1948 was the result of a unique
set of circumstances. Not least was the
dedicated effort of Johns, Haslam and Katz, whose working relationship was
clearly one of respectful friendship.
Much of the credit belongs to E.L. Harrington, head of the department of
physics at the time. Harrington was “a
firm believer that the best physics was...used to develop useful devices and
operations,” and was “without question...responsible for the philosophy behind
the teaching and research”2 in the department. Of equally practical outlook was the
province’s premier, T.C. Douglas, “who probably even then was contemplating a
medicare plan for the Province, [and] was receptive to...arguments that the
high-energy x-ray beam was needed for cancer treatment.”3
It was, however, precisely this potential application to which the
Atomic Energy Commission expressed their reservations, clearly stating to the
University that they had “some doubts as to whether research was fully advanced
to make such a project practicable.”4 Harold Johns would soon prove their
caution misplaced.
| Related Collections |  |
Department of Physics fonds, RG 2043.
L. Katz fonds, MG 39.
| Images | |
1948a: E.L. Harrington. Photograph Collection, A-3191.
1948b: R.N.H. Haslam. Photograph Collection, A-4722.
1948c: H. Johns. Photograph Collection, A-2720.
1948d: L. Katz. Photograph Collection, A-4723.
1948e: letter from Johns to Harrington, Haslam and Katz. Department of Physics fonds, file 2.a.
| Sources | |
1. Currie, p. 177.
2. Currie, p. 193.
3. Currie, p. 177.
4. President’s Office Records series II, B.20.
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