http://www.aip.org/history/lawrence/epa.htmAn electric field with a frequency of about four million
cycles per second lay in the realm of short radio waves.
Lawrence's experience with these waves would come in handy,
and recent advances in high-power vacuum-tube oscillators
would be indispensable. Combined with a reasonable magnetic
field, a potential on the electrodes of only ten thousand
volts could accelerate an alpha particle to one million
electron volts. Bigger magnets promised higher energies. In
theory, the scheme offered the long-sought route to study
the nucleus. Lawrence pressed students and professors to
confirm his calculations and sketched out a device.
