Talk:Ernest Lawrence

Wikipedia should be interesting

Who was the jerk who deleted the medal theft paragraph? It is news, all over the papers in USA. Nobel medals are pure gold and also precious for their symbolic value. The fact that he donted his medal for post-mortem public display and the museum was morons to display such a rare and valuable object without true security is notable and revelant. Restoration is thus demanded! 82.131.210.162 10:06, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Proposed: altering existing photo link to Lawrence images at the Emilio Segrè Visual Archives

I'd like to propose changing the photo link from [1] to [2] as this latter link shows all of the Lawrence images at ESVA. In page History, see change made 1/25/2010.

Sprout333 (talk) 18:14, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

Sure, looks good, makes sense. Binksternet (talk) 18:49, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

MIT work on RADAR

How would we go about adding His pioneering work at MIT to help the British develop RADAR that ended with his giving them his best man Luis Alvarez, once the initialproblems had been solved, to miniaturize the components for use in aircraft? Scslate (talk) 09:32, 26 January 2013 (UTC)

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Ernest Lawrence/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Jamesx12345 (talk · contribs) 20:01, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

I'm happy to review this over the weekend. James^x12345 20:01, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

• "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.
  • Y Removed. Hawkeye7 (talk) 20:59, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "and two years later became the youngest full professor at the University of California" - "becoming the youngest full professor there two years later."
  • Y Good idea. Hawkeye7 (talk) 20:59, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "Lawrence was intrigued by a diagram of a device to" - this is very abrupt - could it be started, "Whilst at..., Lawrence was intrigued"
  • Y Re-worded. Hawkeye7 (talk) 20:59, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "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..."
  • Y Re-worded. Hawkeye7 (talk) 20:59, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "the cyclotron" - "the first cyclotron"
  • Y Done. Hawkeye7 (talk) 20:59, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• Radiation Laboratory should be linked
  • It's already linked in the lead as Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Hawkeye7 (talk) 20:59, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• A ref in the intro for his support of Teller would be good (obviously pretty contentious.)
  • Y Easily done, but I wouldn't have thought it was contentious. Hawkeye7 (talk) 20:59, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

I've always thought that the Teller/Oppenheimer caused massive divisions - that's not quite the same, though.

• "after his first year.[2] Lawrence completed" - "after his first year.[2] He completed"
  • Y Done. Hawkeye7 (talk) 20:59, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "Instead of using it to travel to Europe, remained at Yale University with Swann as a researcher" - missing "he"
  • Y Done. Hawkeye7 (talk) 20:59, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• Two sentences with "They showed" could probably be run together.
  • Y Re-worded. Hawkeye7 (talk) 20:59, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "people who were unimpressed" - "who were" can be removed.
  • Y Done. Hawkeye7 (talk) 21:26, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• In 1928, Lawrence... - this paragraph needs references for his membership being sponsored and meeting people there.
  • There is already a reference. Hawkeye7 (talk) 21:26, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "Lawrence named his son Robert after J. Robert Oppenheimer, his closest friend at Berkeley"
  • Y Hawkeye7 (talk) 21:26, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "Lawrence saw that such..." - needs a few more references.
  • There is already a reference. Hawkeye7 (talk) 21:26, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "to do the work." - needs a ref (even if it is a self-evident truth.)
  • There is already a reference. Hawkeye7 (talk) 21:26, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "Hiring good people and paying them little or nothing would prove to be a sound business model." - likewise
  • There is already a reference. Hawkeye7 (talk) 21:26, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "able to accelerate ions to 1 MV." - is that 1 MeV?
  • Y yes. Thanks for that one. Hawkeye7 (talk) 21:26, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "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."
  • Y No, the construction of a cyclotron was the subject of his thesis. Hawkeye7 (talk) 21:26, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "as soon as there was the first signs of success" - should signs be singular?
  • Y Um, okay. Hawkeye7 (talk) 21:26, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• Added space to $800 11-inch
  • Y Done. Hawkeye7 (talk) 21:26, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "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)

This link is from the American Institute of Physics, so definitely satisfies RS.

• "well within the capability of the 11-inch cyclotron." - ref needed
  • There is already a reference. Hawkeye7 (talk) 21:26, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• 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?
  • Y re-worded. Hawkeye7 (talk) 21:26, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "but they had overlooked another important discovery." - it would be nice to know what!
  • Y Fusion. I thought is was obvious, but tried to make it clear. Hawkeye7 (talk) 22:30, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "He the first at Berkeley to become a Nobel Laureate, and the first ever to be so honored while at a state-supported university." - a bit more concise
  • Y Done. Hawkeye7 (talk) 22:30, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "campus of the university with Lawrence receiving" - "campus of the university, with Lawrence receiving" - add a comma
  • Y Decided to split the long sentence instead., Hawkeye7 (talk) 22:30, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "After the outbreak of World War II in Europe..." - ref for recruiting and security reasons.
  • There is already a reference in the paragraph. Hawkeye7 (talk) 22:30, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• Added space to "submarines. Meanwhile"
  • Y Done. Hawkeye7 (talk) 22:30, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "Oliphant met with Lawrence at Oppenheimer at Berkeley" - I assume that is "Lawrence and Oppenheimer"?
  • Y Yes. Corrected. Hawkeye7 (talk) 22:30, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "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
  • No, that is not correct. Fissile is what we want. Uranium 238 will fission in a high flux situation, and was used as a tamper. Hawkeye7 (talk) 22:30, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "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)
• "laboratory mass spectrometer and cyclotron" - "and the cyclotron"
  • Y Tried to make this clearer. Hawkeye7 (talk) 22:30, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "bolstered by twenty nine British scientists until Oliphant" - confusing meaning.
  • Y It should be "including Oliphant" Hawkeye7 (talk) 22:30, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "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)
• Stone & Webster can be linked. (A reference for their building it would also be nice)
  • The paragraph is already referenced. Hawkeye7 (talk) 22:30, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "and had to be fastened more securely." - needs a ref (I can only imagine what would happen to all the computers...)
  • The paragraph is already referenced. Hawkeye7 (talk) 22:30, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
• "demonstration would be wise" - also needs a ref
  • The paragraph is already referenced. The article is fully referenced. Hawkeye7 (talk) 00:39, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
• "requirements for big machines and big money" - "costly apparatus and large teams of experimenters" Some references for this paragraph as well would be good.
  • The paragraph is already referenced. The article is fully referenced. Hawkeye7 (talk) 00:39, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
• "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"
  • Y Done. Hawkeye7 (talk)
• "The major obstacle was the contracts due to expire on July 1, 1948" - confusing again
  • Y Expanded on this. Hawkeye7 (talk) 00:39, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
• "The 184-inch was completed" - "The 184-inch cyclotron was completed"
  • Y Done. Hawkeye7 (talk) 00:39, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
• "pi meson" - "pion" - more common name
  • But anachronistic. It was not yet called that. Hawkeye7 (talk) 00:39, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
• "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.
  • He wasn't allowed in the building. Hawkeye7 (talk) 00:39, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
• "which had commenced operation." - ref
  • The paragraph is already referenced. The article is fully referenced. Hawkeye7 (talk) 00:39, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
• "For his service to his country" - "For service to his country"
  • No, the first form is better. Hawkeye7 (talk) 05:53, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
• Is there a link for the proposed treaty?
  • Not that I know of. Hawkeye7 (talk) 00:39, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
• I assume he died of colitis? It would be good just to make that absolutely clear.
  • Sort of. I will expand this.
    • Y Done. Some readers might find it a bit TMI though, especially if they click on the links. Hawkeye7 (talk) 05:57, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

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. James^x12345 21:52, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

If you're your own derivative, you must be e^x. Just saying. Hawkeye7 (talk) 05:53, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

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. James^x12345 11:28, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

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