Robert J. Van de Graaff papers

Robert Jemison Van de Graaff, 1901-1967, BS 1922 and MS 1923, University of Alabama, BSc 1926 and PhD 1928, Oxford University, joined the MIT Department of Physics as a research associate in 1931. He became an associate professor in 1934, and retired in 1960 as professor emeritus. During World War II Van de Graaff was appointed the director of the MIT High Voltage Radiographic Project, sponsored by the Office of Scientific Research and Development.

After his graduate studies at the University of Alabama, Van de Graaff worked as a research assistant for the Alabama Power Company. Between 1924 and 1929 he studied in Europe, first at the Sorbonne (1924-1925), and later at Oxford University. During that period he became interested in designing a source of energetic particle beams for the study of atomic nuclei. His first working model of the high-voltage electrostatic generator was built in 1929, when Van de Graaff was a National Research Fellow at Princeton University's Palmer Physics Laboratory. The invention was reported at a meeting of the American Physical Society in 1931, and patented in 1935. In collaboration with John G. Trump and William W. Buechner, both of MIT, Van de Graaff continued working on his generator in an effort to achieve higher voltages, more homogeneous particle beams, and more compact designs. In 1946, together with Trump and Denis M. Robinson, a professor of engineering from England, Van de Graaff founded the High Voltage Engineering Corporation, where he served as chief physicist (later chief scientist) until his death in 1967. The company began its manufacturing operations in 1947, becoming a leading supplier of the particle accelerator systems used in cancer therapy, radiography, and studies of nuclear structure.

Van de Graaff published many scientific papers and received numerous patents, including those of the high-voltage electrostatic generator and the insulating-core transformer. His work on electrostatic generators was widely recognized within the scientific community. Van de Graaff received several honorary degrees and awards, including the 1947 Duddel Memorial Medal of the Physical Society of Great Britain and the 1966 Tom W. Bonner prize of the American Physical Society. In 1935 he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.