title: Betatron-Quastler era at the University of Illinois.
abstract: New accelerator technology and a gathering of physicists and doctors interested in applications to therapy in the late 1940s made possible the development of early multimegavolt betatron techniques. Dr. Henry Quastler brought experience from an actual x-ray treatment, and Dr. Lester Skaggs joined the group to extract the electron beam. Some of the collaborating students were G.D. Adams, H.W. Koch, J.S. Laughlin, L.H. Lanzl and E.F. Lanzl. The physics staff had succeeded in sealing off a vacuum tube for the betatron, and further developments involved field flattening, exposure measurements, collimation, stray electron control, phantom tests, and development of a beam peeler.
mesh_terms: D004583:Electrons; D049673:History, 20th Century; D007087:Illinois; D009683:Nuclear Medicine / Q000266:history*; D009686:Nuclear Physics / Q000295:instrumentation; D011882:Radiotherapy, High-Energy; D014495:Universities