Editing Ernest Lawrence

{{Short description|American accelerator physicist (1901–1958)}}
{{Good article}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Ernest Lawrence
| image             = Ernest Lawrence.jpg
| caption           = Lawrence in 1939
| birth_name        = Ernest Orlando Lawrence
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1901|08|08|mf=yes}}
| birth_place       = [[Canton, South Dakota]], U.S.
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|1958|8|27|1901|08|08|mf=yes}}
| death_place       = [[Palo Alto, California]], U.S.
| education         = [[St. Olaf College]]
| alma_mater        = {{Plain list|
* [[University of South Dakota]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], 1922)
* [[University of Minnesota]] <br/> ([[Master of Arts|MA]], 1923)
* [[Yale University]] ([[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]], 1925)
}}
| known_for         = Inventing the [[cyclotron]] (1930)
| spouse            = {{Marriage|Mary K. Blumer|1932}}
| children          = 6
| relatives         = [[John H. Lawrence]] (brother)
| awards            = {{Plain list|
* [[Member of the National Academy of Sciences|Membership of NAS]] (1934)
* [[Elliott Cresson Medal]] (1937)
* [[Hughes Medal]] (1937)
* [[Comstock Prize in Physics]] (1938)
* [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (1939)
* [[Duddell Medal and Prize]] (1940)
* [[Holley Medal]] (1942)
* [[William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement]] (1951)
* [[Faraday Medal]] (1952)
* [[Enrico Fermi Award]] (1957)
* [[Sylvanus Thayer Award]] (1958)
}}
| honors            = {{Plain list|
* [[File:Medal for Merit ribbon bar.svg|25px]] [[Medal for Merit]] (1946)
* [[File:Legion of Honour - Officer (France).png|25px]] Officer of the [[Legion of Honour]] (1948)
}}
| fields            = [[Accelerator physics]]
| work_institutions = {{Tree list}}
* [[University of California, Berkeley]] (1928–1958)
** [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory|Radiation Laboratory]] 
{{Tree list/end}}
| thesis_title      = The photoelectric effect in potassium vapor as a function of the frequency of the light
| thesis_url        = https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14786442508634745
| thesis_year       = 1925
| doctoral_advisor  = [[William Francis Gray Swann]]
| doctoral_students = {{Plain list|
* [[Milton S. Livingston]] (1931)
* [[John Reginald Richardson]] (1937)
* [[Robert R. Wilson]] (1940)
* [[Chien-Shiung Wu]] (1940)
}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| embed             = yes
| order             = 1st
| title             = [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory#Laboratory directors|Director of the Radiation Laboratory]]
| term_start        = 1931
| term_end          = 1958
| predecessor       = ''Office established''
| successor         = [[Edwin McMillan]]
}}
| signature         = Ernest O Lawrence signature.svg
}}

'''Ernest Orlando Lawrence''' (August 8, 1901 – August 27, 1958) was an American [[accelerator physicist]] who received the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] in 1939 for his invention of the [[cyclotron]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nobel Prize laureates by age |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lists/nobel-laureates-by-age |access-date=May 8, 2024 |website=NobelPrize.org |language=en-US}}</ref> He is known for his work on [[Enriched uranium#Enrichment methods|uranium-isotope separation]] for the [[Manhattan Project]], as well as for founding the [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]] and the [[Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]].

A graduate of the [[University of South Dakota]] and [[University of Minnesota]], Lawrence obtained a PhD in physics at [[Yale]] in 1925. In 1928, he was hired as an associate professor of physics at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], becoming the youngest full professor there two years later. In its library one evening, Lawrence was intrigued by a diagram of an accelerator that produced [[Particle physics|high-energy particles]]. He contemplated how it could be made compact, and came up with an idea for a circular accelerating chamber between the poles of an [[electromagnet]]. The result was the first cyclotron.

Lawrence went on to build a series of ever larger and more expensive cyclotrons. His Radiation Laboratory became an official department of the University of California in 1936, with Lawrence as its director. In addition to the use of the cyclotron for physics, Lawrence also supported its use in research into medical uses of radioisotopes. During [[World War II]], Lawrence developed electromagnetic [[isotope separation]] at the Radiation Laboratory. It used devices known as [[calutron]]s, a hybrid of the standard laboratory [[mass spectrometer]] and cyclotron. A huge electromagnetic separation plant was built at [[Oak Ridge, Tennessee]], which came to be called [[Y-12 National Security Complex|Y-12]]. The process was inefficient, but it worked.

After the war, Lawrence campaigned extensively for government sponsorship of large scientific programs, and was a forceful advocate of "[[Big Science]]", with its requirements for big machines and big money. Lawrence strongly backed [[Edward Teller]]'s campaign for a second nuclear weapons laboratory, which Lawrence located in [[Livermore, California]]. After his death, the [[Regents of the University of California]] renamed the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory after him. Chemical element number 103 was named [[lawrencium]] in his honor after its discovery at Berkeley in 1961.

== Early life ==
Ernest Orlando Lawrence was born in [[Canton, South Dakota]], on August 8, 1901. His parents, Carl Gustavus (1871–1954) and Gunda Regina (née Jacobson) Lawrence (1874–1959), were both the offspring of Norwegian immigrants who had met while teaching at the high school in Canton, where his father was also the superintendent of schools. He had a younger brother, [[John H. Lawrence]], who would become a [[physician]], and was a pioneer in the field of [[nuclear medicine]]. Growing up, his best friend was [[Merle Tuve]], who would also go on to become a highly accomplished physicist.{{sfn|Childs|1968|pp=23–30, 476–477}}

Lawrence attended the public schools of Canton and [[Pierre, South Dakota|Pierre]], then enrolled at [[St. Olaf College]] in [[Northfield, Minnesota]], but transferred after a year to the [[University of South Dakota]] in [[Vermillion, South Dakota|Vermillion]].{{sfn|Childs|1968|pp=47–49}} He completed his bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1922,{{sfn|Childs|1968|p=61}} and his [[Master of Arts]] (M.A.) degree in physics from the [[University of Minnesota]] in 1923 under the supervision of [[William Francis Gray Swann]]. For his master's thesis, Lawrence built an experimental apparatus that rotated an [[ellipsoid]] through a [[magnetic field]].{{sfn|Childs|1968|pp=63–68}}<ref name=eugregag58>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DvZVAAAAIBAJ&pg=6783%2C4575920 |newspaper=Eugene Register-Guard |location=(Oregon)|agency=Associated Press |title=Inventor of cyclotron dies after surgery |date=August 28, 1958 |page=5B |access-date=May 24, 2015}}</ref><ref name=thllegdc1>{{cite web|url=http://chancellor.berkeley.edu/chancellors/berdahl/speeches/the-lawrence-legacy |publisher=University of California, Berkeley |agency=Office of the Chancellor |last=Berdahl |first=Robert M. |author-link=Robert M. Berdahl |title=The Lawrence Legacy |location=Vermillion, South Dakota |date=December 10, 2001 |access-date=May 9, 2014}}</ref>

Lawrence followed Swann to the [[University of Chicago]], and then to [[Yale University]] in [[New Haven, Connecticut]], where Lawrence completed his [[Doctor of Philosophy]] (PhD) degree in physics in 1925 as a National Research Fellow,{{sfn|Alvarez|1970|pp=253–254}} writing his doctoral thesis on the [[photoelectric effect]] in potassium vapor.{{sfn|Alvarez|1970|p=288}}<ref>{{cite journal |title=The photoelectric effect in potassium vapour as a function of the frequency of the light |journal=[[Philosophical Magazine]] |pages=345–359 |volume=50 |issue=296 |date=August 1925 |last=Lawrence |first=Ernest Orlando |doi=10.1080/14786442508634745 |bibcode=1925PhDT.........1L }}</ref> He was elected a member of [[Sigma Xi]], and, on Swann's recommendation, received a [[United States National Research Council|National Research Council]] fellowship. Instead of using it to travel to Europe, as was customary at the time, he remained at Yale University with Swann as a researcher.{{sfn|Childs|1968|p=93}}

With [[Jesse Beams]] from the [[University of Virginia]], Lawrence continued to research the photoelectric effect. They showed that photoelectrons appeared within 2 x 10<sup>−9</sup> seconds of the photons striking the photoelectric surface—close to the limit of measurement at the time. Reducing the emission time by switching the light source on and off rapidly made the spectrum of energy emitted broader, in conformance with [[Werner Heisenberg]]'s [[uncertainty principle]].{{sfn|Alvarez|1970|p=256}}

== Early career ==
In 1926 and 1927, Lawrence received offers of [[assistant professor]]ships from the [[University of Washington]] in [[Seattle]] and the [[University of California at Berkeley|University of California]] at a salary of $3,500 per annum ({{Inflation|US|3500|1927|r=-2|fmt=eq}}). Yale promptly matched the offer of the assistant professorship, but at a salary of $3,000. Lawrence chose to stay at the more prestigious Yale,{{sfn|Childs|1968|pp=107–108}} but because he had never been an instructor, the appointment was resented by some of his fellow faculty, and in the eyes of many it still did not compensate for his South Dakota immigrant background.{{sfn|Childs|1968|pp=120–121}}

Lawrence was hired as an [[associate professor]] of physics at the University of California in 1928. He became a full professor two years later, becoming the university's youngest professor.{{sfn|Alvarez|1970|pp=253–254}} Based on [[Frédéric Joliot-Curie|Frédéric]] and [[Irène Joliot-Curie]]'s 1934 published work on [[Induced radioactivity|artificial radioactivity]], Lawrence discovered the [[nitrogen-13]] isotope by firing high-energy protons into a [[carbon-13]] element in his laboratory.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://mediatheque.lindau-nobel.org/laureates/joliot-curie/research-profile |title=Prof. Dr. Irène Joliot-Curie Research Profile |access-date=August 12, 2023 |last=Bonolis |first=Luisa |work=Lindau Nobel Mediatheque |date=May 27, 2014 |publisher=Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings}}</ref> He and his team including [[Martin Kamen]] and [[Sam Ruben|Samuel Ruben]] accidentally discovered the [[carbon-14]] isotope by bombarding [[graphite]] with high-energy protons.{{sfn|Alvarez|1970|pp=271}} [[Robert Gordon Sproul]], who became university president the day after Lawrence became a professor,{{sfn|Childs|1968|p=256}} was a member of the [[Bohemian Club]], and he sponsored Lawrence's membership in 1932. Through this club, Lawrence met [[William Henry Crocker]], [[Edwin Pauley]], and [[John Francis Neylan]]. They were influential men who helped him obtain money for his energetic nuclear particle investigations. There was great hope for medical uses to come from the development of particle physics, and this led to much of the early funding that Lawrence was able to obtain for research.{{sfn|Brechin|1999|p=312}}

While at Yale, Lawrence met Mary Kimberly (Molly) Blumer, the eldest of four daughters of George Blumer, the dean of the [[Yale School of Medicine]].<ref name=lmdowml>{{cite web |url=http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/Molly-Lawrence-obit.html |publisher=Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |title=Lab mourns death of Molly Lawrence, widow of Ernest O. Lawrence |last=Yarris |first=Lynn |date=January 8, 2003 |access-date=May 9, 2014 |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303201120/http://www2.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/Molly-Lawrence-obit.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=bklyobitml>{{cite news|url=http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2003/01/15_obit.html |newspaper=The Berkleyan |title=Obituaries: Mary Lawrence |agency=University of California |date=January 15, 2003 |access-date=May 9, 2014}}</ref> They first met in 1926 and became engaged in 1931,{{sfn|Alvarez|1970|p=259}} and were married on May 14, 1932, at [[Trinity Church on the Green]] in [[New Haven, Connecticut]].{{sfn|Childs|1968|p=182}} They had six children: Eric, Margaret, Mary, Robert, Barbara, and Susan.<ref name=lmdowml /><ref name=cfdmd>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=qnFQAAAAIBAJ&pg=3773%2C3928015 |newspaper=Milwaukee Sentinel |last=Allen |first=John F. |title=Cyclotron father's death mourned |date=August 29, 1958 |page=13, part 1 }}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Lawrence named his son Robert after [[theoretical physicist]] [[Robert Oppenheimer]], his closest friend in Berkeley.{{sfn|Childs|1968|p=309}}{{sfn|Herken|2002|pp=11–15}}<ref name=eghhufr>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VzIaAAAAIBAJ&pg=7245%2C4439868 |newspaper=Milwaukee Journal |last=Kiessling |first=E.C. |title=Even geniuses have human frailties |date=December 17, 1968 |page=24, part 1 }}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In 1941, Molly's sister Elsie married [[Edwin McMillan]],{{sfn|Alvarez|1970|p=259}} who would go on to win the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] in 1951 with [[Glenn T. Seaborg]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1951/ |title=The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1951 |publisher=Nobel Foundation |year=2014 |access-date=June 21, 2015 }}</ref>

== Development of the cyclotron ==

=== Invention ===
The invention that brought Lawrence to international fame started out as a sketch on a scrap of a paper napkin. While sitting in the library one evening in 1929, Lawrence glanced over a journal article by [[Rolf Widerøe]],<ref>{{cite journal|last = Widerøe|first = R.|author-link=Rolf Widerøe |date =  December 17, 1928 |title=Ueber Ein Neues Prinzip Zur Herstellung Hoher Spannungen|journal = Archiv für Elektronik und Übertragungstechnik|language=de|volume = 21|issue = 4|pages = 387–406|doi = 10.1007/BF01656341|s2cid = 109942448}}</ref> and was intrigued by one of the diagrams.<ref>{{cite web|title=Breaking Through: A Century of Physics at Berkeley. 2. The Cyclotron. |publisher=Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley |date=February 25, 2012 |url=http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/Exhibits/physics/bigscience02.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120527183442/http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/Exhibits/physics/bigscience02.html |archive-date=May 27, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> This depicted a device that produced [[Particle physics|high-energy particles]] by means of a succession of small "pushes". The device depicted was laid out in a straight line using increasingly longer electrodes.{{sfn|Heilbron|Seidel|1989|pp=75–82}} At the time, physicists were beginning to explore the [[atomic nucleus]]. In 1919, the New Zealand physicist [[Ernest Rutherford]] had fired alpha particles into [[nitrogen]] and had succeeded in knocking [[proton]]s out of some of the nuclei. But nuclei have a positive charge that repels other positively charged nuclei, and they are bound together tightly by a force that physicists were only just beginning to understand. To break them up, to disintegrate them, would require much higher energies, of the order of millions of volts.{{sfn|Heilbron|Seidel|1989|pp=46–49}}

[[File:Cyclotron patent.png|left|thumb|Diagram of cyclotron operation from Lawrence's 1934 patent|alt=Strange-looking schematic diagaram]]
Lawrence saw that such a [[particle accelerator]] would soon become too long and unwieldy for his university laboratory. In pondering a way to make the accelerator more compact, Lawrence decided to set a circular accelerating chamber between the poles of an electromagnet. The magnetic field would hold the charged protons in a spiral path as they were accelerated between just two semicircular electrodes connected to an alternating potential. After a hundred turns or so, the protons would impact the target as a beam of high-energy particles. Lawrence excitedly told his colleagues that he had discovered a method for obtaining particles of very high energy without the use of any high voltage.{{sfn|Heilbron|Seidel|1989|pp=83–88}} He initially worked with Niels Edlefsen. Their first [[cyclotron]] was made out of brass, wire, and sealing wax and was only {{convert|4|in|cm|spell=in}} in diameter—it could be held in one hand, and probably cost a total of $25 ({{Inflation|US|25|1934|r=-2|fmt=eq}}).<ref name=cfdmd /><ref name=stroc01>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.llnl.gov/str/October01/Lawrence.html |title=Remembering E. O. Lawrence |magazine=Science & Technology Review |publisher=[[Lawrence Livermore Laboratory]] |date=October 2001 |access-date=August 25, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615150500/https://www.llnl.gov/str/October01/Lawrence.html |archive-date=June 15, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

What Lawrence needed to develop the idea was capable graduate students to do the work. Edlefsen left to take up an assistant professorship in September 1930, and Lawrence replaced him with David H. Sloan and [[M. Stanley Livingston]],<ref name=eghhufr/> whom he set to work on developing Widerøe's accelerator and Edlefsen's cyclotron, respectively. Both had their own financial support. Both designs proved practical, and by May 1931, Sloan's [[linear accelerator]] was able to accelerate ions to 1 MeV.{{sfn|Heilbron|Seidel|1989|pp=89–95}} Livingston had a greater technical challenge, but when he applied 1,800&nbsp;V to his 11-inch cyclotron on January 2, 1931, he got 80,000-[[electron volt]] protons spinning around. A week later, he had 1.22 MeV with 3,000 V, more than enough for his PhD thesis on its construction.{{sfn|Heilbron|Seidel|1989|pp=95–100}}

=== Development ===
[[File:Lawrence Compton Bush Conant Compton Loomis 83d40m March 1940 meeting UCB.JPG|thumb|right|Meeting at Berkeley in 1940 concerning the planned {{convert|184|in|m|2|adj=on}} [[cyclotron]] (''seen on the blackboard''): Lawrence, [[Arthur Compton]], [[Vannevar Bush]], [[James B. Conant]], [[Karl T. Compton]], and [[Alfred Lee Loomis]]|alt=Six men in suits sitting on chairs, smiling and laughing]]
In what would become a recurring pattern, as soon as there was the first sign of success, Lawrence started planning a new, bigger machine. Lawrence and Livingston drew up a design for a {{convert|27|in|cm||adj=on}} cyclotron in early 1932. The magnet for the $800&nbsp;11-inch cyclotron weighed 2 tons, but Lawrence found a massive 80-ton magnet rusting in a junkyard in Palo Alto for the 27-inch that had originally been built during World War I to power a transatlantic radio link.{{sfn|Herken|2002|pp=5–7}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aip.org/history/lawrence/radlab.htm |access-date=September 22, 2013 |title=The Rad Lab – Ernest Lawrence and the Cyclotron |publisher=[[American Institute of Physics]] |archive-date=September 20, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150920022408/https://www.aip.org/history/lawrence/radlab.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref> In the cyclotron, he had a powerful scientific instrument, but this did not translate into scientific discovery. In April 1932, [[John Cockcroft]] and [[Ernest Walton]] at the [[Cavendish Laboratory]] in England announced that they had bombarded [[lithium]] with [[proton]]s and succeeded in transmuting it into [[helium]]. The energy required turned out to be quite low—well within the capability of the 11-inch cyclotron. On learning about it, Lawrence sent a wire to Berkeley and asked for Cockcroft and Walton's results to be verified. It took the team until September to do so, mainly due to lack of adequate detection apparatus.{{sfn|Heilbron|Seidel|1989|pp=137–141}}

Although important discoveries continued to elude Lawrence's [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory|Radiation Laboratory]], mainly due to its focus on the development of the cyclotron rather than its scientific use, through his increasingly larger machines, Lawrence was able to provide crucial equipment needed for experiments in [[Particle physics|high energy physics]]. Around this device, he built what became the world's foremost laboratory for the new field of nuclear physics research in the 1930s. He received a [[patent]] for the cyclotron in 1934,<ref>{{US patent reference
 | number = 1948384
 | y = 1934
 | m = 02
 | d = 20
 | inventor = Ernest O. Lawrence
 | title = [https://patents.google.com/patent/US1948384 Method and apparatus for the acceleration of ions]
}}</ref> which he assigned to the [[Research Corporation]],{{sfn|Heilbron|Seidel|1989|pp=192–193}} a [[Private foundation (United States)|private foundation]] that funded much of Lawrence's early work.{{sfn|Heilbron|Seidel|1989|pp=27–28}}

In February 1936, [[Harvard University]]'s president, [[James B. Conant]], made attractive offers to Lawrence and Oppenheimer.{{sfn|Childs|1968|pp=235–237}} The University of California's president, [[Robert Gordon Sproul]], responded by improving conditions. The Radiation Laboratory became an official department of the University of California on July 1, 1936, with Lawrence formally appointed its director, with a full-time assistant director, and the university agreed to make $20,000 a year available for its research activities ({{Inflation|US-GDP|20000|1936|r=-4|fmt=eq}}).{{sfn|Childs|1968|pp=240–241, 248}} Lawrence employed a simple business model: "He staffed his laboratory with graduate students and junior faculty of the physics department, with fresh Ph.D.s willing to work for anything, and with fellowship holders and wealthy guests able to serve for nothing."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www2.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Research-Review/Magazine/1981/ |title=Lawrence and His Laboratory – A historian's view of the Lawrence years – Chapter 1: A New Lab for a New Science |first1=J. L. |last1=Heilbron|first2=Robert W. |last2=Seidel|last3=Wheaton|first3=Bruce R. |publisher=Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory|year=1981|access-date=October 5, 2013}}</ref>

=== Reception ===
Using the new 27-inch cyclotron, the team at Berkeley discovered that every element that they bombarded with recently discovered [[deuterium]] emitted energy, and in the same range. They, therefore, postulated the existence of a new and hitherto unknown particle that was a possible source of limitless energy.{{sfn|Heilbron|Seidel|1989|pp=153–157}} [[William Laurence]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' described Lawrence as "a new miracle worker of science".{{sfn|Heilbron|Seidel|1989|p=156}} At Cockcroft's invitation, Lawrence attended the 1933 [[Solvay Conference]] in Belgium. This was a regular gathering of the world's top physicists. Nearly all were from Europe, but occasionally an outstanding American scientist like [[Robert A. Millikan]] or [[Arthur Compton]] would be invited to attend. Lawrence was asked to give a presentation on the cyclotron.{{sfn|Childs|1968|pp=197–208}} Lawrence's claims of limitless energy met a very different reception in Solvay. He ran into withering skepticism from the Cavendish Laboratory's [[James Chadwick]], the physicist who had discovered the [[neutron]] in 1932, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1935. In a British accent that sounded condescending to Lawrence's ears, Chadwick suggested that what Lawrence's team was observing was contamination of their apparatus.{{sfn|Herken|2002|pp=9–10}}

[[File:60-inch cyclotron, c 1930s. This shows the (9660569583).jpg|thumb|left|The {{convert|60|in|m|2|adj=on}} cyclotron soon after completion in 1939. The key figures in its development and use are shown, standing, left to right: [[Donald Cooksey]], [[Dale R. Corson]], Ernest Lawrence, [[Robert Lyster Thornton|Robert L. Thornton]], [[John Backus (acoustician)|John Backus]], and [[Winfield Salisbury]]. In the background are [[Luis Walter Alvarez|Luis Alvarez]] and [[Edwin McMillan]].|alt=Six men in suits and ties stand in front of gigantic machinery. Two more are sitting on top of it.]]
When he returned to Berkeley, Lawrence mobilized his team to go painstakingly over the results to gather enough evidence to convince Chadwick. Meanwhile, at the Cavendish laboratory, Rutherford and [[Mark Oliphant]] found that deuterium [[Nuclear fusion|fuses]] to form [[helium-3]], which causes the effect that the cyclotroneers had observed. Not only was Chadwick correct in that they had been observing contamination, but they had overlooked yet another important discovery, that of nuclear fusion.{{sfn|Heilbron|Seidel|1989|pp=169–171}} Lawrence's response was to press on with the creation of still larger cyclotrons. The 27-inch cyclotron was superseded by a 37-inch cyclotron in June 1937,{{sfn|Heilbron|Seidel|1989|p=277}} which in turn was superseded by a 60-inch cyclotron in May 1939. It was used to bombard iron and produced its first radioactive isotopes in June.{{sfn|Childs|1968|p=288}}

As it was easier to raise money for medical purposes, particularly cancer treatment, than for nuclear physics, Lawrence encouraged the use of the cyclotron for medical research. Working with his brother John and Israel Lyon Chaikoff from the University of California's physiology department, Lawrence supported research into the use of radioactive isotopes for therapeutic purposes. [[Phosphorus-32]] was easily produced in the cyclotron, and John used it to cure a woman afflicted with [[polycythemia vera]], a blood disease. John used phosphorus-32 created in the 37-inch cyclotron in 1938 in tests on mice with [[leukemia]]. He found that the radioactive phosphorus concentrated in the fast-growing cancer cells. This then led to clinical trials on human patients. A 1948 evaluation of the therapy showed that remissions occurred under certain circumstances.{{sfn|Heilbron|Seidel|1989|pp=399–404}} Lawrence also had hoped for the medical use of neutrons. The first cancer patient received [[neutron therapy]] from the 60-inch cyclotron on November 20.{{sfn|Childs|1968|p=288}} Chaikoff conducted trials on the use of radioactive isotopes as [[radioactive tracer]]s to explore the mechanism of biochemical reactions.{{sfn|Heilbron|Seidel|1989|pp=405–414}}

[[File:University of California Radiation Laboratory staff on the magnet yoke for the 60-inch cyclotron, 1938.jpg|thumb|280px|University of California Radiation Laboratory staff framed by the magnet for the 60-inch cyclotron, 1938; Nobel prize winners Ernest Lawrence, [[Edwin McMillan]], and [[Luis Walter Alvarez|Luis Alvarez]] are shown, in addition to [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]] and [[Robert R. Wilson]].]]

Lawrence was awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] in November 1939 "for the invention and development of the cyclotron and for results obtained with it, especially with regard to artificial radioactive elements".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1939/ |title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1939 |access-date=August 25, 2013 |publisher=The Nobel Foundation }}</ref> He was the first at Berkeley as well as the first South Dakotan to become a Nobel Laureate, and the first to be so honored while at a state-supported university. The Nobel award ceremony was held on February 29, 1940, in [[Berkeley, California]], due to [[World War II]], in the auditorium of [[Wheeler Hall]] on the campus of the university. Lawrence received his medal from Carl E. Wallerstedt, [[Sweden]]'s [[Consul General]] in [[San Francisco]].{{sfn|Childs|1968|pp=294–296}} [[Robert W. Wood]] wrote to Lawrence and presciently noted "As you are laying the foundations for the cataclysmic explosion of uranium ... I'm sure old Nobel would approve."{{sfn|Herken|2002|p=27}}

In March 1940, [[Arthur Compton]], [[Vannevar Bush]], [[James B. Conant]], [[Karl T. Compton]], and [[Alfred Lee Loomis]] traveled to Berkeley to discuss Lawrence's proposal for a 184-inch cyclotron with a 4,500-ton magnet that was estimated to cost $2.65 million ({{Inflation|US-GDP|2650000|1940|r=-6|fmt=eq}}). The [[Rockefeller Foundation]] provided $1.15 million to get the project started.{{sfn|Childs|1968|p=299}}

== World War II and the Manhattan Project ==

=== Radiation Laboratory ===
After the outbreak of [[World War II]] in Europe, Lawrence became drawn into military projects. He helped recruit staff for the [[MIT Radiation Laboratory]], where American physicists developed the [[cavity magnetron]] invented by [[Mark Oliphant]]'s team in Britain. The name of the new laboratory was deliberately copied from Lawrence's laboratory in Berkeley for security reasons. He also became involved in recruiting staff for underwater sound laboratories to develop techniques for detecting German submarines. Meanwhile, work continued at Berkeley with cyclotrons. In December 1940, [[Glenn T. Seaborg]] and [[Emilio Segrè]] used the {{convert|60|in|cm|adj=on}} cyclotron to bombard [[uranium-238]] with [[deuterons]] producing a new element, [[neptunium-238]], which decayed by [[beta emission]] to form [[plutonium-238]]. One of its isotopes, [[plutonium-239]], could undergo nuclear fission, which provided another way to make an [[atomic bomb]].{{sfn|Alvarez|1970|p=274}}{{sfn|Childs|1968|pp=306–308}}<ref>{{Cite conference|title=The Plutonium Story |first=Glenn T. |last=Seaborg |conference=Actinides-1981 conference |location=Pacific Grove, California |date=September 10, 1981 |publisher=Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California |id=LBL-13492, DE82 004551 |osti=5808140}}</ref>

Lawrence offered Segrè a job as a research assistant—a relatively lowly position for someone who had discovered an element—for US$300 a month for six months. However, when Lawrence learned that Segrè was legally trapped in California, he reduced Segrè's salary further to US$116 a month.{{sfn|Segrè|1993|pp=147–148}} When the regents of the University of California wanted to terminate Segrè's employment owing to his foreign nationality, Lawrence managed to retain Segrè by hiring him as a part-time lecturer paid by the Rockefeller Foundation. Similar arrangements were made to retain his doctoral students [[Chien-Shiung Wu]] (a Chinese national) and [[Kenneth Ross MacKenzie]] (a Canadian national) when they graduated.{{sfn|Heilbron|Seidel|1989|pp=521–522}}

[[File:Diagram of uranium isotope separation in the calutron.png|thumb|right|Schematic diagram of uranium isotope separation in a [[calutron]]|alt=Another weird diagram. This one shows atoms being deflected by a magnet]]
In September 1941, Oliphant met with Lawrence and Oppenheimer at Berkeley, where they showed him the site for the new {{convert|184|in|m|adj=on}} cyclotron. Oliphant, in turn, took the Americans to task for not following up the recommendations of the British [[MAUD Committee]], which advocated a program to develop an [[atomic bomb]].{{sfn|Herken|2002|pp=38–41}} Lawrence had already thought about the problem of separating the fissile isotope [[uranium-235]] from [[uranium-238]], a process known today as [[uranium enrichment]]. Separating uranium isotopes was difficult because the two isotopes have very nearly identical chemical properties, and could only be separated gradually using their small mass differences. Separating isotopes with a [[mass spectrometer]] was a technique Oliphant had pioneered with [[lithium]] in 1934.<ref name="Electromagnetic separation">{{cite journal|first1=M. L. E. |last1=Oliphant |first2=E. S. |last2=Shire |first3=B. M. |last3=Crowther  |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society A |title=Separation of the Isotopes of Lithium and Some Nuclear Transformations Observed with them |date=October 15, 1934 |volume=146 |issue=859 |pages=922–929 |doi=10.1098/rspa.1934.0197 |bibcode=1934RSPSA.146..922O |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Lawrence began converting his old 37-inch cyclotron into a giant mass spectrometer.{{sfn|Hewlett|Anderson|1962|pp=43–44}} On his recommendation, the director of the [[Manhattan Project]], [[Brigadier General (United States)|Brigadier General]] [[Leslie R. Groves Jr.]], appointed Oppenheimer as head of its [[Los Alamos Laboratory]] in [[New Mexico]]. While the Radiation laboratory developed the electromagnetic uranium enrichment process, the Los Alamos Laboratory designed and constructed the atomic bombs. Like the Radiation Laboratory, it was run by the University of California.{{sfn|Childs|1968|pp=337–339}}

Electromagnetic isotope separation used devices known as [[calutron]]s, a hybrid of two laboratory instruments, the mass spectrometer and cyclotron. The name was derived from "California university cyclotrons".{{sfn|Jones|1985|pp=117–119}} In November 1943, Lawrence's team at Berkeley was bolstered by 29 British scientists, including Oliphant.{{sfn|Childs|1968|p=347}}{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=124}}

In the electromagnetic process, a magnetic field deflected charged particles according to mass.{{sfn|Childs|1968|p=312}} The process was neither scientifically elegant nor industrially efficient.{{sfn|Fine|Remington|1972|p=684}} Compared with a [[gaseous diffusion]] plant or a [[nuclear reactor]], an electromagnetic separation plant would consume more scarce materials, require more manpower to operate, and cost more to build. Nonetheless, the process was approved because it was based on proven technology and therefore represented less risk. Moreover, it could be built in stages, and would rapidly reach industrial capacity.{{sfn|Jones|1985|pp=117–119}}

=== Oak Ridge ===
Responsibility for the design and construction of the electromagnetic separation plant at [[Oak Ridge, Tennessee]], which came to be called [[Y-12 National Security Complex|Y-12]], was assigned to [[Stone & Webster]]. The calutrons, using 14,700 tons of silver, were manufactured by [[Allis-Chalmers]] in Milwaukee and shipped to Oak Ridge. The design called for five first-stage processing units, known as Alpha racetracks, and two units for final processing, known as Beta racetracks. In September 1943 Groves authorized construction of four more racetracks, known as Alpha II.{{sfn|Jones|1985|pp=126–132}} When the plant was started up for testing on schedule in October 1943, the 14-ton vacuum tanks crept out of alignment because of the power of the magnets and had to be fastened more securely. A more serious problem arose when the magnetic coils started shorting out. In December Groves ordered a magnet to be broken open, and handfuls of rust were found inside. Groves then ordered the racetracks to be torn down and the magnets sent back to the factory to be cleaned. A [[Pickling (metal)|pickling]] plant was established on-site to clean the pipes and fittings.{{sfn|Fine|Remington|1972|p=684}}

[[File:Alpha 1 racetrack, Uranium 235 electromagnetic separation plant, Manhattan Project, Y-12 Oak Ridge.jpg|left|thumb|300px|Giant electromagnet Alpha I racetrack for uranium enrichment at Y-12 plant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, circa 1944–45. The [[calutron]]s Lawrence developed are located around the ring.|alt=A large oval-shaped structure.]]
[[Tennessee Eastman]] was hired to manage Y-12.{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=140}} Y-12 initially enriched the uranium-235 content to between 13% and 15%, and shipped the first few hundred grams of it to Los Alamos laboratory in March 1944.{{sfn|Jones|1985|pp=143–148}} Only 1 part in 5,825 of the uranium feed emerged as final product. The rest was splattered over equipment in the process. Strenuous recovery efforts helped raise production to 10% of the uranium-235 feed by January 1945. In February the Alpha racetracks began receiving slightly enriched (1.4%) feed from the new [[S-50 (Manhattan Project)|S-50 thermal diffusion plant]]. The next month it received enhanced (5%) feed from the [[K-25]] gaseous diffusion plant. By April 1945 K-25 was producing uranium sufficiently enriched to feed directly into the Beta tracks.{{sfn|Jones|1985|pp=143–148}}

On July 16, 1945, Lawrence observed the [[Trinity nuclear test]] of the first atomic bomb with Chadwick and [[Charles A. Thomas]]. Few were more excited at its success than Lawrence.{{sfn|Childs|1968|pp=358–359}} The question of how to use the now functional weapon on Japan became an issue for the scientists. While Oppenheimer favored no demonstration of the power of the new weapon to Japanese leaders, Lawrence felt strongly that a demonstration would be wise. When a uranium bomb was used without warning in the [[atomic bombing of Hiroshima]], Lawrence felt great pride in his accomplishment.{{sfn|Childs|1968|pp=360–365}}

Lawrence hoped that the Manhattan Project would develop improved calutrons and construct Alpha III racetracks, but they were judged to be uneconomical.{{sfn|Herken|2002|p=128}} The Alpha tracks were closed down in September 1945. Although performing better than ever,{{sfn|Hewlett|Anderson|1962|p=624}} they could not compete with K-25 and the new K-27, which commenced operation in January 1946. In December, the Y-12 plant was closed, thereby cutting the Tennessee Eastman payroll from 8,600 to 1,500 and saving $2&nbsp;million a month.{{sfn|Hewlett|Anderson|1962|pp=630, 646}} Staff numbers at the Radiation laboratory fell from 1,086 in May 1945 to 424 by the end of the year.{{sfn|Childs|1968|p=370}}

{{Clear}}

== Post-war career ==

=== Big Science ===
After the war, Lawrence campaigned extensively for government sponsorship of large scientific programs. He was a forceful advocate of Big Science with its requirements for big machines and big money, and in 1946 he asked the Manhattan Project for over $2 million for research at the Radiation Laboratory ({{Inflation|US-GDP|2000000|1946|r=-6|fmt=eq}}). Groves approved the money, but cut a number of programs, including Seaborg's proposal for a "hot" radiation laboratory in densely populated Berkeley, and John Lawrence's for production of medical isotopes, because this need could now be better met from nuclear reactors. One obstacle was the University of California, which was eager to divest its wartime military obligations. Lawrence and Groves managed to persuade Sproul to accept a contract extension.{{sfn|Herken|2002|p=168}} In 1946, the Manhattan Project spent $7 on physics at the University of California for every dollar spent by the university.{{sfn|Seidel|1983|p=398}}

{{Quote box
|align=right
|width=35%
|quote=To most of his colleagues, Lawrence appeared to have almost an aversion to mathematical thought. He had a most unusual intuitive approach to involved physical problems, and when explaining new ideas to him, one quickly learned not to befog the issue by writing down the differential equation that might appear to clarify the situation. Lawrence would say something to the effect that he didn't want to be bothered by the mathematical details, but "explain the physics of the problem to me." One could live close to him for years, and think of him as being almost mathematically illiterate, but then be brought up sharply to see how completely he retained his skill in the mathematics of classical electricity and magnetism.
|source=Luis Alvarez{{sfn|Alvarez|1970|p=253}}
}}
The 184-inch cyclotron was completed with wartime dollars from the Manhattan Project. It incorporated new ideas by Ed McMillan, and was completed as a [[synchrocyclotron]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www2.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/early-years.html |title = Ernest Lawrence's Cyclotron}}</ref> It commenced operation on November 13, 1946.{{sfn|Childs|1968|p=387}} For the first time since 1935, Lawrence actively participated in the experiments, working with [[Eugene Gardner]] in an unsuccessful attempt to create recently discovered [[pi meson]]s with the synchrotron. [[César Lattes]] then used the apparatus they had created to find negative pi mesons in 1948.{{sfn|Alvarez|1970|pp=277–279}}

Responsibility for the [[United States Department of Energy national laboratories|national laboratories]] passed to the newly created [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]] (AEC) on January 1, 1947.{{sfn|Herken|2002|p=170}} That year, Lawrence asked for $15 million for his projects ({{Inflation|US-GDP|15000000|1947|r=-6|fmt=eq}}), which included a new linear accelerator and a new gigaelectronvolt synchrotron which became known as the [[bevatron]]. The University of California's contract to run the Los Alamos laboratory was due to expire on July 1, 1948, and some board members wished to divest the university of the responsibility for running a site outside California. After some negotiation, the university agreed to extend the contract for what was now the Los Alamos National Laboratory for four more years and to appoint [[Norris Bradbury]], who had replaced Oppenheimer as its director in October 1945, as a professor. Soon after, Lawrence received all the funds he had requested.{{sfn|Herken|2002|pp=176, 182–183}}

[[File:HD.4G.019 (10409853774).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Lawrence (right) with [[Robert Oppenheimer]] at the 184-inch cyclotron, circa 1946]]

Notwithstanding the fact that he voted for [[Franklin Roosevelt]], Lawrence was a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]],{{sfn|Childs|1968|p=186}} who had strongly disapproved of Oppenheimer's efforts before the war to unionize the Radiation Laboratory workers, which Lawrence considered "leftwandering activities".{{sfn|Childs|1968|pp=319–320}} Lawrence considered political activity to be a waste of time better spent in scientific research, and preferred that it be kept out of the Radiation Laboratory.<ref name="Distillations">{{cite journal|year=2016|first=Haertsch |last=Emilie|title=Large and in charge |url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/large-and-in-charge|journal=Distillations|volume=2|issue=3|pages=40–43|access-date=March 22, 2018}}</ref>
In the chilly [[Cold War]] climate of the post-war University of California, Lawrence accepted the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]]'s actions as legitimate, and did not see them as indicative of a systemic problem involving [[academic freedom]] or [[human rights]]. He was protective of individuals in his laboratory, but even more protective of the reputation of the laboratory.<ref name="Distillations"/> He was forced to defend Radiation Laboratory staff members like [[Robert Serber]] who were investigated by the university's Personnel Security Board. In several cases, he issued character references in support of staff. However, Lawrence barred Robert Oppenheimer's brother [[Frank Oppenheimer|Frank]] from the Radiation Laboratory, damaging his relationship with Robert.{{sfn|Herken|2002|pp=190–192}} An acrimonious loyalty oath campaign at the University of California also drove away faculty members.{{sfn|Herken|2002|pp=220–222}} When hearings were held to revoke Robert Oppenheimer's security clearance, Lawrence declined to attend on account of illness, but a transcript in which he was critical of Oppenheimer was presented in his absence. Lawrence's success in building a creative, collaborative laboratory was undermined by the ill-feeling and distrust resulting from political tensions.<ref name="Distillations"/>

=== Thermonuclear weapons ===
Lawrence was alarmed by the [[Soviet Union]]'s [[RDS-1|first nuclear test]] in August 1949. The proper response, he concluded, was an all-out effort to build a bigger nuclear weapon: the [[hydrogen bomb]].{{sfn|Herken|2002|pp=200–202}} He proposed to use accelerators instead of nuclear reactors to produce the neutrons needed to create the [[tritium]] the bomb required, as well as plutonium, which was more difficult, as much higher energies would be required.<ref name=Lbl1981>{{cite book|chapter-url=http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Research-Review/Magazine/1981/81fchp5.html|title=Lawrence and His Laboratory – A historian's view of the Lawrence year|chapter=Chapter 5: Cold War in Science|first1=J. L.|last1=Heilbron|first2=Robert W.|last2=Seidel|last3=Wheaton|first3=Bruce R.|publisher=Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory|year=1981|access-date=October 5, 2013|archive-date=October 6, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131006230738/http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Research-Review/Magazine/1981/81fchp5.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> He first proposed the construction of Mark I, a prototype $7 million, 25 MeV [[linear accelerator]], codenamed Materials Test Accelerator (MTA).<ref name=Lbl1981 />{{sfn|Herken|2002|p=220}} He was soon talking about a new, even larger MTA known as the Mark II, which could produce [[tritium]] or [[plutonium]] from depleted uranium-238. Serber and Segrè attempted in vain to explain the technical problems that made it impractical, but Lawrence felt that they were being unpatriotic.{{sfn|Herken|2002|pp=234–235}}<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Research-Review/Magazine/1981/81fchp6.html|title=Lawrence and His Laboratory – A historian's view of the Lawrence year|chapter=Chapter 6: A Neutron Foundry|first1=J. L.|last1=Heilbron|first2=Robert W.|last2=Seidel|last3=Wheaton|first3=Bruce R.|publisher=Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory|year=1981|access-date=October 5, 2013|archive-date=October 6, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131006232436/http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Research-Review/Magazine/1981/81fchp6.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Lawrence strongly backed [[Edward Teller]]'s campaign for a second nuclear weapons laboratory, which Lawrence proposed to locate with the MTA Mark I at [[Livermore, California]]. Lawrence and Teller had to argue their case not only with the Atomic Energy Commission, which did not want it, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which was implacably opposed but with proponents who felt that Chicago was the more obvious site for it.{{sfn|Herken|2002|pp=244–247}} The new laboratory at Livermore was finally approved on July 17, 1952, but the Mark II MTA was canceled. By this time, the Atomic Energy Commission had spent $45 million on the Mark I, which had commenced operation, but was mainly used to produce [[polonium]] for the nuclear weapons program. Meanwhile, the [[Brookhaven National Laboratory]]'s [[Cosmotron]] had generated a 1 GeV beam.{{sfn|Herken|2002|p=256}}

=== Radiological weapons ===
Lawrence was a staunch advocate of the US offensive [[radiological weapons]] program in the immediate post-war period. He was a member of an ad-hoc AEC panel recommending their further study, in which he urged fellow members to not draw comparisons to the more established fields of [[chemical]] and [[biological weapons]]. He also argued one advantage was their lack of an analogue to the [[Nuclear taboo|taboo against atomic weapons]]. Lawrence suggested a fleet of "twenty or thirty" [[Production reactor|production reactors]] dedicated to the program, for the weaponized isotope ultimately selected as [[tantalum-182]]. This would supplant the [[B Reactor]] which was at the time dedicated to [[plutonium-239]] and [[polonium-210]] production for nuclear weapons.<ref name="x266">{{cite journal |last=Meyer |first=Samuel |last2=Bidgood |first2=Sarah |last3=Potter |first3=William C. |year=2020 |title=Death Dust: The Little-Known Story of U.S. and Soviet Pursuit of Radiological Weapons |url=https://direct.mit.edu/isec/article-pdf/45/2/51/1860490/isec_a_00391.pdf |journal=International Security |publisher=MIT Press - Journals |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=51–94 |doi=10.1162/isec_a_00391 |issn=0162-2889 |access-date=2025-05-05 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Death and legacy ===
In addition to the Nobel Prize, Lawrence received the [[Elliott Cresson Medal]] and the [[Hughes Medal]] in 1937, the [[Comstock Prize in Physics]] in 1938, the [[Duddell Medal and Prize]] in 1940, the [[Holley Medal]] in 1942, the [[Medal for Merit]] in 1946, the [[William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement|William Procter Prize]] in 1951, [[Faraday Medal]] in 1952,{{sfn|Alvarez|1970|pp=285–286}} and the [[Enrico Fermi Award]] from the Atomic Energy Commission in 1957.{{sfn|Childs|1968|pp=508–510}} He was elected a member of the United States [[National Academy of Sciences]] in 1934,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ernest Lawrence |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/20000860.html |access-date=May 22, 2023 |website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref> and both the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] and the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1937.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 9, 2023 |title=Ernest Orlando Lawrence |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/ernest-orlando-lawrence |access-date=May 22, 2023 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Ernest+Lawrence&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=May 22, 2023 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> He was made an [[Legion d'Honneur|Officer of the Legion d'Honneur]] in 1948,{{sfn|Alvarez|1970|pp=285–286}} and was the first recipient of the [[Sylvanus Thayer Award]] by the [[United States Military Academy|US Military Academy]] in 1958.{{sfn|Childs|1968|pp=517–518}}

In July 1958, President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] asked Lawrence to travel to [[Geneva, Switzerland]], to help negotiate a proposed [[Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty]] with the [[Soviet Union]]. AEC Chairman [[Lewis Strauss]] had pressed for Lawrence's inclusion. The two men had argued the case for the development of the hydrogen bomb, and Strauss had helped raise funds for Lawrence's cyclotron in 1939. Strauss was keen to have Lawrence as part of the Geneva delegation because Lawrence was known to favor continued nuclear testing.{{sfn|Greene|2007|pp=156–158, 289}} Despite suffering from a serious flare-up of his chronic [[ulcerative colitis]], Lawrence decided to go, but he became ill while in Geneva, and was rushed back to the [[Stanford University Medical Center|hospital]] at [[Stanford University]].{{sfn|Herken|2002|pp=325–325}} Surgeons [[Ileostomy|removed much of his large intestine]], but found other problems, including severe [[atherosclerosis]] in one of his arteries.{{sfn|Childs|1968|pp=532–534}} He died in [[Stanford University Medical Center|Palo Alto Hospital]] on August 27, 1958,<ref name=eugregag58/><ref name=oxupiobt>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KVJLAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eyMNAAAAIBAJ&pg=7039%2C5402806 |work=Oxnard Press-Courier |location=(California)|agency=UPI|title=Lawrence, inventor of cyclotron; dies |date=August 28, 1958 |page=2}}</ref> nineteen days after his 57th birthday.{{sfn|Alvarez|1970|p=283}} Molly did not want a public funeral but agreed to a memorial service at the First Congregational Church in Berkeley. University of California President [[Clark Kerr]] delivered the [[eulogy]].{{sfn|Childs|1968|pp=532–534}}

Almost immediately after Lawrence's death, the [[Regents of the University of California]] voted to rename two of the university's nuclear research labs after Lawrence: the [[Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]] and the [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://energy.gov/articles/photo-week-inside-60-inch-cyclotron |title=Photo of the Week: Inside the 60-Inch Cyclotron  |publisher=[[United States Department of Energy]] |access-date=August 24, 2013}}</ref> The [[Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award]] was established in his memory in 1959.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://science.energy.gov/lawrence/ |title=Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award |publisher=[[United States Department of Energy]] |access-date=August 24, 2013}}</ref> Chemical element number 103, discovered at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 1961, was named [[lawrencium]] after him.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://alumni.berkeley.edu/news/california-magazine/may-june-2007-new-food-and-farming/100-years-of-scholarship |publisher=Cal Alumni |title=100 Years of Scholarship |access-date=August 24, 2013 |archive-date=October 2, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002154354/http://alumni.berkeley.edu/news/california-magazine/may-june-2007-new-food-and-farming/100-years-of-scholarship |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1968 the [[Lawrence Hall of Science]] public science education center was established in his honor.{{sfn|Alvarez|1970|p=284}} His papers are in the [[Bancroft Library]] at the University of California, Berkeley.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf0g5001n2/ |title=Guide to the Ernest O. Lawrence Papers |access-date=May 24, 2015 |publisher=[[Online Archive of California]] }}</ref>

In the 1980s, Lawrence's widow petitioned the University of California Board of Regents on several occasions to remove her husband's name from the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, due to its focus on nuclear weapons Lawrence helped build, but was denied each time.<ref name="urwr">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=TQ8wAAAAIBAJ&pg=7200%2C3035093 |newspaper=Ocala Star-Banner |location=Ocala, FL |agency=Associated Press |title=University rejects widow's request |date=July 16, 1983 |page=15A |access-date=May 24, 2015}}</ref><ref name="phywid85">{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-09-07-me-6709-story.html |archive-date=January 18, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150118013759/http://articles.latimes.com/1985-09-07/local/me-6709_1_livermore-weapons-lab  |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |last=Savage |first=David G. |title=Physicist's widow asks that husband's name be removed from weapons lab |date=September 7, 1985 |url-status=live |access-date=May 9, 2014}}</ref><ref name="sciexc">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/8256/title/So-They-Say/ |magazine=The Scientist |title=So they say |last=Lawrence |first=Mary B. |date=October 1986 |access-date=May 9, 2014}}</ref><ref name="namech87">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3V8aAAAAIBAJ&pg=1704%2C6781839 |newspaper=Milwaukee Journal |agency=Associated Press |title=Name change |date=June 8, 1987 |page=2A |access-date=May 24, 2015 }}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> She outlived her husband by more than 44 years and died in [[Walnut Creek, California]], at the age of 92 on January 6, 2003.<ref name="lmdowml" /><ref name="bklyobitml" />

[[George Kauffman|George B. Kauffman]] wrote that: {{blockquote|Before him, "little science" was carried out largely by lone individuals working with modest means on a small scale. After him, massive industrial, and especially governmental, expenditures of manpower and monetary funding made "big science," carried out by large-scale research teams, a major segment of the national economy.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.anb.org/articles/13/13-00960.html |first=George B. |last=Kauffman |author-link=George B. Kauffman |title=Lawrence, Ernest Orlando |work=American National Biography Online |date=February 2000 |access-date=June 22, 2015 }}</ref> }}

Lawrence is portrayed by [[Josh Hartnett]] in [[Christopher Nolan]]'s 2023 film ''[[Oppenheimer (film)|Oppenheimer]]''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://time.com/6295742/oppenheimer-review/|magazine=Time|author-last=Zacharek | author-first= Stephanie|title=''Oppenheimer'' Dazzles With Its Epic Story of a Complicated Patriot|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=July 19, 2023|access-date=July 20, 2023|archive-date=July 20, 2023|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230720143848/https://time.com/6295742/oppenheimer-review/}}</ref>

== References ==
===Citations===
{{Reflist|30em}}

=== Bibliography ===
* {{Cite journal
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 | author-link = Luis Walter Alvarez
 | url = http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/lawrence-ernest.pdf
 | access-date = August 29, 2023
| title = Ernest Orlando Lawrence 1901–1958
 | journal = Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences
 | year = 1970
}}
* {{cite book
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 | title=Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin
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 | isbn=978-0-520-21568-9
 | oclc = 40331167
}}
* {{cite book
 | last1 = Childs |first1 = Herbert
 | title = An American Genius: The Life of Ernest Orlando Lawrence, Father of the Cyclotron
 | url = https://archive.org/details/americangeniusl00chil | url-access = registration | publisher = E. P. Dutton
 | location = New York, New York
 | year = 1968
 | isbn = 978-0-525-05443-6
 | oclc = 273351
}}
* {{cite book
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 |title        = The Corps of Engineers: Construction in the United States
 |publisher    = United States Army Center of Military History
 |location     = Washington, D.C.
 |year         = 1972
 |url          = http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/010/10-5/CMH_Pub_10-5.pdf
 |access-date  = August 25, 2013
|oclc         = 834187
 |archive-date = February 1, 2017
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20170201142645/https://history.army.mil/html/books/010/10-5/CMH_Pub_10-5.pdf
 |url-status   = dead
}}
* {{cite book
 | last = Greene | first = Benjamin P.
 | title = Eisenhower, Science Advice, and the Nuclear Test-Ban Debate, 1945–1963
 | year = 2007
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 | publisher = Stanford University Press
 | oclc = 65204949
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}}
* {{cite book
 | last1       = Heilbron |first1 = J. L.
 | author-link = J.L. Heilbron
 | first2     = Robert W.
 | last2      = Seidel
 | title      = Lawrence and his Laboratory: A History of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory
 | publisher  = University of California Press
 | year       = 1989
 | location   = Berkeley, California
 | url        = https://archive.org/details/lawrencehislabor00heil
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| isbn       = 978-0-520-06426-3
 | oclc       = 19455957
}}
* {{cite book
 | last1 = Herken |first1 = Gregg
 | author-link = Gregg Herken
 | title = Brotherhood of the Bomb: The Tangled Lives and Loyalties of Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence, and Edward Teller
 | publisher = Holt Paperbacks
 | location = New York, New York
 | year = 2002
 | isbn = 978-0-8050-6589-3
 | oclc = 48941348
}}
* {{cite book
 | last1=Hewlett |first1=Richard G.
 | author-link=Richard G. Hewlett
 | last2=Anderson |first2=Oscar E.
 | title=The New World, 1939–1946
 |journal=Physics Today
 | location=University Park, Pennsylvania
 | publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press
 | year=1962
 |volume=15
 |issue=12
 |page=62
 | url=https://www.governmentattic.org/5docs/TheNewWorld1939-1946.pdf
 | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.governmentattic.org/5docs/TheNewWorld1939-1946.pdf
 | archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live
 | access-date=March 26, 2013
| isbn=978-0-520-07186-5
 | oclc=637004643
 | bibcode=1962PhT....15l..62H
 | doi=10.1063/1.3057919
}}
* {{cite book
 | last=Jones
 | first=Vincent
 | title=Manhattan: The Army and the Atomic Bomb
 | publisher=United States Army Center of Military History
 | location=Washington, D.C.
 | year=1985
 | url=http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/011/11-10/CMH_Pub_11-10.pdf
 | access-date=August 25, 2013
| oclc=10913875
 | archive-date=October 7, 2014
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007074359/http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/011/11-10/CMH_Pub_11-10.pdf
 | url-status=dead
 }}
* {{cite book
 | first=Emilio |last=Segrè
 | author-link = Emilio Segrè
 | year=1993
 | title=A Mind Always in Motion: the Autobiography of Emilio Segrè
 | publisher=University of California Press
 | location=Berkeley, California
 | isbn=978-0-520-07627-3
 | oclc=25629433
 | url=https://archive.org/details/mindalwaysinmoti00segr
 }}
* {{cite journal
 | title=Accelerating Science: The Postwar Transformation of the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory
 | first=Robert W.
 | last=Seidel
 | journal=Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences
 | issn=1939-1811
 | volume=13
 | issue=2
 | pages=375–400
 | year=1983
 | doi=10.2307/27757520
 | jstor=27757520
}}

==Further reading==
* Bird, Kai, and Martin J. Sherwin. ''American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer'' (2005) [https://archive.org/details/americanpromethe0000bird online]
* Bernstein, Barton J. "Four Physicists and the Bomb: The Early Years, 1945-1950" ''Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences'' (1988) 18#2; covers Oppenheimer, Fermi, Lawrence and Compton. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27757603 online]
* Galison, Peter, and Barton Bernstein. "In any light: Scientists and the decision to build the Superbomb, 1952-1954." ''Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences'' 19.2 (1989): 267–347. [https://galison.scholar.harvard.edu/sites/projects.iq.harvard.edu/files/andrewhsmith/files/27757627.pdf online]
* Hiltzik, Michael. ''Big Science: Ernest Lawrence and the Invention that Launched the Military-Industrial Complex'' (Simon and Schuster, 2015) [https://archive.org/details/bigscienceernest0000hilt online]

== External links ==
{{Commons|Ernest O. Lawrence}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060828130026/http://alsos.wlu.edu/qsearch.aspx?browse=people%2FLawrence%2C+Ernest+O. Ernest O. Lawrence Annotated Bibliography for Ernest Lawrence from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060220135256/http://www.aip.org/history/lawrence/ Lawrence and the Cyclotron: AIP History Center Web Exhibit]
* [http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/lawrence-legacy.html Ernest Orlando Lawrence – The Man, His Lab, His Legacy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117032715/http://www2.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/lawrence-legacy.html |date=November 17, 2015 }}
* [http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Research-Review/Magazine/1981/ ''Lawrence and His Laboratory: A Historian's View of the Lawrence Years''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180118111506/http://www2.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Research-Review/Magazine/1981/ |date=January 18, 2018 }}
* Lawrence Livermore Lab: [https://web.archive.org/web/20130615150500/https://www.llnl.gov/str/October01/Lawrence.html Remembering E. O. Lawrence]
* {{Nobelprize}}
* Nobel-Winners.com: [http://www.nobel-winners.com/Physics/ernest_orlando_lawrence.html Ernest Lawrence]
*{{Find a Grave|2218}}

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{{s-ttl|title = [[Sylvanus Thayer Award]]|years = 1958}}
{{s-aft|after = [[John Foster Dulles]]}}
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{{Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory|state=autocollapse}}{{Nobel Prize in Physics Laureates 1926–1950}}
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{{Manhattan Project}}
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| Portal2=Nuclear technology
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawrence, Ernest}}
[[Category:Ernest Lawrence| ]]
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