The story and lessons of particle accelerators

Professor Sergey Kapitza

No other instrument of research has had such an influence on the style of science and development of engineering in the 20th century, than the charged particle accelerator. Designed and built to penetrate deep into the structure of matter, accelerators are based on the principles of electrodynamics and relativistic mechanics. Accelerators were invented by a remarkable group of physicists and engineers, who to a great extent personify the new interaction of science and technology, unknown before in the pursuit of knowledge. These great machines not only led to new breakthroughs in technology and engineering, but also changed the scale of the research effort, and finally led to a new way in managing science. The modern way of producing research – for better or for worse – has now spread well beyond the study of elementary particle physics to other fields of the scientific endeavour. The origin and consequences of these changes are to be discussed, based to a great extent on the personal experience of the speaker.