The Westinghouse Atom Smasher
In this picture, behind me is a 65 ft. tall particle accelerator, but you are more likely to recognize its historical and famous name: the atom smasher. The Large Hadron Collider, located near Geneva in Switzerland, probably comes to mind when you think of a particle accelerator. As I have been living in Pittsburgh's surrounding areas my entire life, I had recently realized that there is a defunct particle accelerator situated not too far from me. It reminded me of some alien spacecraft with its otherworldly-looking symbol calling for me to investigate it from a distance.
The atom smasher was Westinghouse's cutting-edge tool for working on nuclear reactions that involved precise measurements made possible by the generator's firmly supported voltage. The atom smasher put us on the path to gaining fundamental knowledge of nuclear physics. Long before today's discussions on high-energy collisions creating microscopic black holes and cosmological catastrophes with Switzerland's LHC, this Pittsburgh-based innovative project used 5 million volts to torpedo particles from the top of the pressure vessel and down a vacuum tube to hit somewhere 47 feet below. Thanks to Pittsburgh's long-lost atom smasher, we were able to discover the photo-fission of uranium [1].
To put it simply, "Photofission is a process in which a nucleus, after absorbing a gamma-ray, undergoes nuclear fission and splits into two or more fragments." There is a production of gamma photons and a release of a large amount of energy [6].
It was constructed in 1937, abandoned in 1958, and toppled in 2015 [3]. I imagine it was indeed a sad day in 2015 for the Forest Hills residents who had to endure the loss of the economic device that represented "the atomic age and their childhood" [2].
It was reposed even though the Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh reckoned it worthwhile to keep intact [3].
The Smithsonian reported that a Washington developer had purchased the land in 2012 and planned to build apartments there. Promises were made to erect the relic and repaint it, but that obviously has not happened [2].
Westinghouse was busy and booming with metallurgy, magnetics, physics, chemistry, mechanics, and other labor decades ago. Seventy engineers were working at the Research Laboratories by the late 1920s. 90% of the Forest Hills' residents were estimated to be employed at Westinghouse in the late 1920s. The many engineers, support staff, and their families contributed to the Forest Hills' census saying that the population leaped from 1,500 in 1920 to 4,549 in 1930 [5].
Despite the Great Depression forcing Westinghouse to furlough people, Research Laboratories still played a significant part in keeping the Forest Hills community afloat from 1930 to 1940. As nuclear physics was incipient and spreading worldwide, Westinghouse could not resist its venture with the atom smasher of the Van de Graaf kind [5].
The Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph issued a 1937 report anticipating that the community would experience a great boon from the atom smasher venture, saying, "The world's first atom-smashing 'cannon' is nearing completion in East Pittsburgh. The huge apparatus, resembling a stratosphere balloon, will be used for an inconceivable possibly epic-making venture into the infinities of pure research" [4]. Still, soon after that, World War II struck and shifted Westinghouse's and the U.S. government's focus. They prioritized "jet engine prototypes, microwave technology for radar, and gyroscopic controls for military tanks" over everything else [4]. The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki changed the public's perception of nuclear power. The atom smasher later reclaimed the center stage but only for a brief time before its retirement in 1958. Westinghouse still went on to do more nuclear research, as it is responsible for almost all commercial nuclear power plants that are operational today [4].
The atom smasher scientists gathered information on the "behavior of light-weight nuclear transformations" while cannonading neutrons and other particles at lithium atoms, beryllium atoms, and carbon [5]. Gamma rays, similar to x-rays, were used to split the uranium atom. Though the atom smasher was with us briefly, the discovery of photofission means that science was not fruitless nor wasted with this venture. This discovery helped fulfill the laboratory's purpose as it was a stepping stone to other more remarkable accomplishments [5].
L.W. Chubb, then director of the Research Laboratories, stated in Popular Mechanics: "The discovery does not mean we are any nearer the day when a ship can travel around the world on the energy from a handful of uranium. But it is another fragment of evidence about atoms that may lead someday to atomic power machines or to some other benefit we are not capable of visualizing" [7].
For the residents living in the area, the standing bulbous colossus gave them a sense of pride, stemming from decades when Westinghouse earned people's trust with their labor that brought electric lights, radios, and televisions into their homes. The families of this "planned community" supported themselves with Westinghouse jobs focused on the atom smasher. The Forest Hills people enjoyed the media attention and fame visiting them at their workplace. And leaving the object "unceremoniously languishing on its side" apparently does the same to their pride and joy today [4].
May we not hope in vain for the restoration of the atom smasher.
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Works cited:
[1] https://ethw.org/Milestones:Westinghouse_Atom_Smasher,_1937
[2] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/strange-story-westinghouse-atom-smasher-180961515/
[4] https://carnegiemuseums.org/magazine-archive/2016/winter/article-601.html
[5] https://journals.psu.edu/wph/article/view/60195/60144
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photofission
[7] https://tinyurl.com/39yxznhv