Billion Electron Volts – August 2023
Bev in high-energy physics stands for “billion electron volts.” In 1969, the director of the National Accelerator Laboratory, located in Batavia, Illinois (established in1967, renamed after nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi in 1974), went before Congress to ask for funding for the 200-BeV Synchrotron, a proton accelerator. U.S. Senator John Pastore, a Democrat from Rhode Island, wanted to know if this 200-Bev accelerator-a device that would infuse hydrogen-gas protons with 200 billion electron volts in 1.6 seconds-would help secure the country. Robert Wilson, the NAL director, said he didn’t think so: building the 200-BeV had nothing at all to do with defense. Pastore then asked the following: “Is there anything here that projects us in a position of being competitive with the Russians, with regard to this race?”
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