The Surface Muon Beam

Abstract

Long ago, shortly before World War II, when I was but 13 years of age, I was excited by an article in Popular Mechanics magazine that described Ernest O. Lawrence's project to construct the world's greatest atom smasher, a 184‐inch cyclotron, on a hill overlooking the Berkeley campus of the University of California. From that point on, my career goal was to become a physicist. While the 184‐inch‐cyclotron project has always symbolized to me the beauty and excitement of unlocking the mysteries of nature, I never suspected, even for many years into my career as a high‐energy and cosmic‐ray physicist, that I would have a rendezvous with destiny involving the 184‐inch cyclotron: using it in its waning years to make my most significant contribution to the progress of science.