50 Years Since
First Beam
On the afternoon of December 15, 1974, a small team of physicists, engineers, and support staff activated the world’s largest cyclotron and created Canada’s first high-energy proton beam.
Since then, Canada’s research community has used the cyclotron to explore the Universe, deliver life-saving medical isotopes, and build a better world using science.
Join us as we explore fifty years since ‘first beam’ at TRIUMF, Canada’s particle accelerator centre.
Before the beam
Before exploring the stories that have shaped TRIUMF since first beam, join us in returning to the very beginning — to the people whose vision brought it to life, the place that became its home, and the cyclotron that set everything in motion.
The prologue
In 1968, on Canada’s west coast, an inspired team made a decision that would redefine the country’s science landscape forever: to build the world’s largest cyclotron, a 4400-ton, 520 million-electron-volt (MeV) particle accelerator, to explore the depths of the subatomic world.
“The first inklings for the tri-university meson facility were themselves a product of three separate elements: a trio of Canadian universities, a novel accelerator concept and an appetite for collaboration within the field of nuclear physics in the early 1960s.”
– Ewart Blackmore, Researcher Emeritus (Head, Accelerator Technology Division)
The proposal
At the heart of the proposed lab: a circular particle accelerator called a cyclotron, which can accelerate hydrogen ions to 75% the speed of light and produce proton beams for research, or for striking dense targets to create mesons (pions and muons). These particles would be used to test fundamental laws of physics or probe electronics, semiconductors, and other advanced materials.
With a cyclotron design schematic in-hand and support from three universities secured, TRIUMF still needed a home. The team procured a small piece of land, teeming with towering Douglas fir and bushy sword ferns, on the grounds of the University of British Columbia and the unceded, ancestral territories of the Musqueam people, who for millennia have used the site as a place of learning.
In April 1968, the team’s project plan was accepted. TRIUMF received $19 million from several federal sources and began construction immediately. The first cheque arrived by surface mail to the mailbox of UBC Prof. Michael Craddock, who eventually became TRIUMF’s Head of the Accelerator Research Division (and de facto historian).
Building the lab
The process of building the lab and its cyclotron unfolded across the late 1960s and early 70s. Working before the era of powerful computers or precision tools, the project team relied on ingenuity, collaboration, and determination to bring their vision to life. They transformed the unassuming clearing in Pacific Spirit Park into a home for Canada’s first large-scale particle accelerator — a place where scientific discovery and possibility would take root.
Construction progressed quickly, despite many unforeseen and unique challenges inherent to building the world’s largest cyclotron.
Many in TRIUMF’s community recall the ‘shimming’ saga, which occurred right near the end of construction, as a shining example of the TRIUMF community spirit.
As engineers made detailed measurements of the full machine’s magnetic fields, Reg himself noted that they did not match its model — the ions were straying off course. The team outlined a plan to ‘shim’ the massive, 4400-ton structure, subtracting 16 tons of steel from the inner yokes using jackhammers, then adding 100 tons of steel to the outer yokes.
For eight months, the community came together in a daily ritual to add and remove huge swaths of steel, reconfiguring the field with the hope of eventually guiding the beam out.
Beam on!
Late in the morning on December 15, 1974, with the cyclotron fully complete and powered up, Reg Richardson took his seat in the control room to perform the final ‘tuning’ to coax beam from the depths of the accelerator. In just a matter of hours: success!
“(Reg) personally tuned the beam from injection to extraction: a much-enjoyed reward for all the years of planning and administration.”
– Mike Craddock, Researcher Emeritus (in white, right; Head, Accelerator Research Division)
“Every one of the group leaders were in the control room for hours keeping our systems under surveillance as Reg gradually got the beam circulating to higher and higher energies. He finally got a radiation alarm from the beamline 4 beamspill monitors, followed by a signal moments later – the room exploded in cheers. Exciting day!”
– Gary Wait, former TRIUMF Nuclear Physicist
First Beam Group40 Years Later
And they're off!
“By all accounts, work at TRIUMF began immediately, with the 1975 Annual Report noting beam delivered to Experiment 10 in April 1975; the BASQUE experiment receiving beam by August; and the M8 bio-medical beamline beginning studies almost right away. Incredible.”
– Marcello Pavan, TRIUMF Head, Academic and User Programs
“There were no job descriptions; everything was new to everyone and everyone had to be ready to learn anything, from shimming the cyclotron magnet to wire-wrapping the backplanes of the Data General Eclipse computers in the control room.”
– Pat Stewart, secretary to the Associate Director
Early days
TRIUMF’s first staff – engineers, researchers, students, technical and support staff, and others – recall a lab filled with energy, excitement, and a sense of endless opportunity.
As one of just three ‘meson factories’ in the world, TRIUMF quickly became one of the most in-demand laboratories in international science – a globally unique facility where researchers could wield beams of short-lived particles to explore deeper into the atomic nucleus than ever before.
New university members clamoured to join, and the TRIUMF family grew.
As intended, the lab quickly developed a strong particle physics program, and just as quickly spawned new ideas beyond the original plan. Using a proton beam from the TRIUMF cyclotron, researchers created secondary beams of particles called muons – lighter versions of their heavier proton cousins – which can be implanted into various materials as probes. Muons transmit information about the environment they are embedded in, making them an excellent tool for studying the subatomic properties of matter.
“Richard Feynman visited TRIUMF in 1974. I showed him the beginning of Beamline 1A (…) he asked me what I was going to do with it. I said, ‘Studying the weak interaction!’
He shuddered: ‘At that low an energy?’
I don’t remember if I answered ‘Surely you’re joking, Dr. Feynman!’, but I should have.”
– Jean-Michel Poutissou, Researcher Emeritus
Canada's cyclotron
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau presided over the official commissioning of TRIUMF’s 520 MeV cyclotron on February 9, 1976, bringing a wider national recognition for the lab and its work at the leading edge of physics and engineering.
Trudeau is famously quoted as saying: “I don’t really know what a cyclotron is, but I am certainly very happy Canada has one!”
“A grad student, anticipating the visit of Prime Minister Trudeau, climbed up on the roof of the M20 garage and spelled out in big letters with masking tape:
“Make Love not Mesons.”
– Jess Brewer, Affiliate Researcher and UBC Prof. Emeritus
The invention of the Time Projection Chamber (TPC) was a milestone in particle physics technology. First developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the late 1970s, the TPC allowed physicists to take a 3D picture of a particle collision, and the paths that particles take after they collide. TRIUMF was the first lab to have a working TPC in an experiment, used to search for rare muon decays.
Isotopes for health
Just four years after first beam, TRIUMF began using the 520 MeV cyclotron for a completely different purpose: producing medical isotopes for the emerging technology of single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). The lab’s first commercial agreement, with partner Nordion, supplied Canadians with critically needed isotopes like iodine-123 and brought TRIUMF isotopes and advanced medical imaging into Canadian hospitals.
Factory for Science
By the early 1980s, TRIUMF had become a powerful factory for particle physics, materials sciences, and the burgeoning area of life sciences, earning itself a reputation for punching above its weight. However, advances in meson science and the prospect of new realms beyond the Standard Model propelled TRIUMF researchers to propose a grand new vision for physics in Canada.
A new horizon: KAON
To retain a position at the cutting edge of research amidst the shifting tides in meson science, the TRIUMF community proposed a massive project of unprecedented ambition in Canada’s history: they would build a 30 GeV (30-billion volt) accelerator facility for the production of Kaons, Antiprotons, Other hadrons and Neutrinos – a ‘KAON’ factory’.
The 70-acre, $1.4-billion KAON facility would produce particle beams 100 to 1000 times more intense than the world’s leading facilities to complement the Large Hadron Collider, which would create the highest energy particles ever produced.
A proposal, spearheaded by TRIUMF’s fourth Director, Erich Vogt, for KAON was submitted to the federal government in 1985.
“…and the irresistible force that was Erich Vogt plotted to plant Canada even more firmly on the map of particle physics. The plan: an international collaboration to build a billion-dollar machine at UBC which would whip protons around so fast, they would spill out gazillions of kaons…”
Erich and the KAON factory – CBC News, May 2 2008
While the notion of KAON grew, TRIUMF explored other contributions to international Big Science, with construction of HERA (Hadron–Electron Ring Accelerator) at the DESY lab in Germany marking TRIUMF’s first foray into international collaborations. The electron-proton collider received its 80 metre beam transport system from TRIUMF, the first of 11 total contributors to this multinational project.
Canadian science, saving lives
With new ideas swirling about a possible KAON factory, TRIUMF found new ways to create impact through accelerator science – in the area of life sciences. In 1982, the lab installed an underground pneumatic transport — the “rabbit line” — to carry medical isotopes nearly 2.5 km to the UBC Hospital. Traveling at speeds up to 100 km/h, the line delivers short-lived isotopes directly to the hospital’s neuroscience research unit.
TRIUMF’s Applied Technology Group (ATG) welcomed the lab’s second cyclotron to site in 1987 – the compact CP-42 cyclotron, used for creating medical isotopes. In 1988, construction began on ATG’s second cyclotron, the first of two ‘TRIUMF-type 30 MeV’ or TR-30 cyclotrons, which still operate today and supply millions of doses of medical isotopes to Canadians and people around the world.
While awaiting KAON, TRIUMF’s growing nuclear medicine team continued to explore cyclotron-produced isotopes for SPECT and the emerging Positron Emission Tomography (PET) brain scans. Using the 520 MeV cyclotron and compact medical cyclotrons, the lab began producing isotopes like fluorine-18 for both daily diagnostics and research.
Over the next four decades, TRIUMF’s researchers, engineers, and technicians enabled countless thousands of scans, pioneering important health studies and the creation of PET programs at Canadian universities and institutions. Today, the University of British Columbia still receives weekly deliveries of radioisotopes for brain health research.
Winds of Change
The 90s brought accelerating discoveries in subatomic physics, renewed public interest in science, and paradigm-shifting ‘world wide web’. Against this dynamic backdrop, the lab continued to wait for a federal decision on their billion-dollar, history-defining proposal to build the KAON facility.
Waiting for KAON
Despite a dizzying billion-dollar price tag, the proposed KAON facility garnered strong support from the public, multiple levels of government, and the global science community. In 1990, the BC government pledged $236 M to match federal KAON support, though a later change in leadership withdrew the offer. Interest remained high, with international partners committing funding to help expand a world-class science centre in British Columbia.
“The persistent probing of nature’s building blocks at TRIUMF has already resulted in dozens of technological developments, including medical isotopes, the PET brain scanner, superfast microchips, robotics applications, pion beam cancer therapy, large scale precision tooling and scientific software…”
‘TRIUMF support sought’, North Shore News, January 6 1991
“We have a very compelling case. We have the world ready and waiting.”
– Erich Vogt, in 1990
Pause, possibility – and isotopes
TRIUMF’s leadership continued to lobby government and lead outreach to the public. Back on site, TRIUMF’s science program continued to flourish – and expand – into entirely new directions.
Across the 80s and early 90s, a tectonic shift rippled through subatomic physics research, bringing renewed focus on rare isotopes – exotic, short-lived forms of ‘normal’ matter – as the new frontier in knowledge.
TRIUMF responded to this shifting demand by building the Test Isotope Separator On-Line, or TISOL facility, which operated from 1987-1998. With TISOL, researchers could create beams of isotopes by smashing a particle beam into a target material, then gather and direct the fragmented subatomic pieces into beams that could be used for further exploring the make-up of the Universe.
Shifts in red
TISOL’s first project, the ‘Red Giant’ study, marked the lab’s inaugural nuclear astrophysics experiment. The research offered estimates of oxygen-16 production in massive stars, allowing more precise predictions of stellar lifespans and element formation in the cosmos.
The Red Giant study was a major inflection point for the lab – a pivot point towards its future in rare isotope science.
“The [Red Giant] experiment was important (…) TISOL showed there were good experiments you could do with this approach.
You have to remember, TRIUMF was a meson facility. Now, they were showing we can also do rare isotope experiments..”
– John D’Auria, Research Scientist and SFU Professor
Expanding the cyclotron family
In the realm of life sciences, TRIUMF further expanded its medical isotope capabilities, installing its fourth cyclotron in 1993: a compact 13 MeV, ‘TR’ (TRIUMF)-type cyclotron developed under an agreement with BC-based EBCO (the same company that helped construct the 520 MeV cyclotron).
Elsewhere, materials sciences and muSR (μSR) researchers contributed to the study and characterization of buckminsterfullerene, or ‘buckyballs’, soccer ball-shaped molecules of carbon that gripped public attention in the 90s.
“We used to give the quadrupole magnets names – the compact ones along Beamline 2A were rabbits – Roger, Babs, Thumper – and the big quadrupoles are Huey, Duey and Luey. The beamline between ISAC I and 2 had John, Paul, George, and Ringo!”
– Doug Preddy, Group Leader, Beamlines
The end of the KAON dream . . .
TRIUMF’s expansions into new areas – nuclear physics, medical isotopes, and more – proved prescient. In 1994, the federal government delivered a harrowing blow to the future of TRIUMF: the KAON proposal would not be funded.
TRIUMF’s federal funding agreement collapsed, and the lab moved to month-by-month transfer payments, casting a deep shadow on the fate of the laboratory.
. . . but the start of something bigger
Despite the loss of KAON, TRIUMF’s fate was not yet sealed.
TRIUMF had remained agile and responsive to the needs and interests of the Canadian public, government and funders, and international science community. In the months after KAON’s loss, the laboratory was able to quickly pivot, responding in three parallel directions.
Science in service
TRIUMF increased its focus on finding real-world applications of its accelerators and beamlines.
The Proton and Neutron Irradiation facilities (PIF & NIF) came online in 1995, enabling commercial partners to test radiation effects and improve the lifetime and operation of technologies like processors, electrical systems, and more.
Adjacent to the nuclear medicine program, an on-site Proton Therapy Centre was established to further leverage the 520 MeV cyclotron for health science. In 1995, TRIUMF led Canada’s first treatment of an ocular melanoma patient proton therapy.
Canada's portal to international 'Big Science'
With international science partners clamouring for the TRIUMF’s community’s decades-strong expertise in accelerators and detectors, the lab quickly became the lead institution in Canada’s contributions to international ‘Big Science’ physics collaborations in Europe, Asia, and beyond.
In 1996, TRIUMF formally requested to help build ATLAS, one of the two main detectors at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. Following the model used in the HERMES experiment, TRIUMF contributed not only to accelerator systems but also to detector components and data analysis. The approach proved highly successful, shaping TRIUMF’s participation in later collaborations like the T2K project in Japan
Investing in isotope science
The laboratory’s last and perhaps most fundamentally existential response to the loss of KAON was the dedicated focus to create dedicated isotope separation online (ISOL) beam facilities. Building on decades of expertise and the TISOL facility, TRIUMF turned hard towards isotope science.
“TISOL became the catalyst that led TRIUMF into a new era of physics with the eventual introduction of the Isotope Separator and Accelerator (ISAC) facilities later in the 1990s”
– SFU Retirees Association, 2016
“An attempt was made to upgrade the facility (…) and it was called KAON – but the price tag proved too high for Canada.
So scientists at the lab pulled a switcheroo, a major change in focus (…) and learned how to use the 500 MeV intense proton beam to make rare isotopes…”
– John D’Auria, Researcher Scientist and SFU Professor
Facilities in focus
In 1997, TRIUMF began building the Isotope Separator and Accelerator (ISAC) facility. This expansive, warehouse-sized research hall would become home to some of the world’s most sensitive detectors for rare isotopes, and the de facto heart of of TRIUMF’s nuclear physics research program.
With support from colleagues in TRIUMF’s Theory Department (which was already a world-renowned unit for its own research in particle physics, cosmology, and beyond), nuclear physics researchers could begin to explore galaxy-sized questions about our Universe: How are stars formed? How do elements fuse together in stellar environments? What happens in a neutron star merger?, and more.
Isotopes, Accelerated
TRIUMF’s community entered the new millennium focused on expanding its science program and shaping a future grounded in discovery, precision, and exploring the Universe using isotopes.
In 2000, ISAC I was officially opened, and first stable beam was declared. Shortly after, the lab finalized approvals for the construction of ISAC II, which would allow for the application of accelerated rare isotope beams to even higher energies than in ISAC I, ushering in a new era in subatomic physics in Canada.
At the same time, TRIUMF launched its superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) program, which significantly advanced TRIUMF (and Canada) as a major leader in particle accelerator technology and supported both ISAC I’s newly designed heavy ion linac and the accelerator complex at CERN.
“….there seems to be broad agreement that the lab’s main thrust must be to exploit the newly completed ISAC facilities as fully as possible…”
– Jean-Michel Poutissou, Researcher Emeritus
In 2000, a small TRIUMF working group set out to demonstrate the feasibility of hosting a ‘Tier-1’ data centre for Large Hadron Collider physics. They established the first ‘single hop’ fiber optic light-path between TRIUMF and CERN and briefly attained the land-speed record for the longest distance highest volume of data transferred in the world.
Physics with ISAC
In 2001, two pioneering experiments were commissioned in the ISAC I hall: DRAGON (Detector of Recoils And Gammas Of Nuclear Reactions) and TUDA (TRIUMF UK Detector Array). Using beams of rare isotopes, DRAGON made the world’s first measurement of stellar proton-capture reactions, simulating the formation of elements in explosive stars; TUDA provided precise insight into charged-particle reactions vital to nova nucleosynthesis models.
Across the early 2000s, TRIUMF’s Centre for Molecular and Materials Science (CMMS) began producing spin-polarized beta-emitting isotopes such as lithium-18 and magnesium-31 at its β-NMR (beta-detected nuclear magnetic resonance) facility. These act as highly sensitive probes for electronic and magnetic properties at surfaces and interfaces, from complex quantum materials to next-generation batteries.
The ISAC II building opened in 2003, further solidifying the laboratory as a global leader in isotope science. The laser ion source would come online shortly after, expanding the comprehensive library of rare isotope beams available for ISAC experiments.
2003 marked a major year for TRIUMF’s new-found focus on international collaborations. The laboratory’s accelerator community delivered superconducting magnets to CERN for the Large Hadron Collider, and the lab received the first CPUs for its ATLAS Tier-1 data centre — key contributions to one of the most ambitious scientific efforts of all time.
Although Canada could not build the KAON Factory, the Japanese science community was able to take half of the design and develop it into a new, cutting-edge facility called J-PARC (Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex) that makes use of high-intensity proton beams, making it another shining example of TRIUMF’s contributions to international Big Science.
In 2005, TRIUMF’s Proton Therapy Centre treated its 100th ocular melanoma patient.
In 2007, TRIUMF researchers achieve the first mass measurement of lithium-11, the shortest-lived and lightest ion ever captured in a Penning trap. The landmark results opened new windows into the structure of exotic nuclei and how short-lived isotopes enable stars to burn, grow, and die.
A national accelerator centre
Throughout the 2010s, a decade shaped by shifting global priorities in health, energy, and innovation, TRIUMF focused on strengthening its role as a national hub for accelerator and isotope science. The lab initiated the ambitious ARIEL and IAMI facilities, and expanded programs for medical isotope production and development.
Hello, ARIEL!
To secure Canada’s future as a global science leader, the lab set an ambitious course to build a world-leading isotope research facility: ARIEL, the Advanced Rare Isotope Laboratory. ARIEL will triple the lab’s rare-isotope beam output, unlocking new avenues in subatomic physics, nuclear astrophysics, medical isotopes, and materials science.
In the final weeks of 2011, TRIUMF’s 520 MeV cyclotron and ISAC facility set a world record for delivering the most intense beams onto an actinide target for the production of isotopes.
In 2014, TRIUMF introduced the First Year Summer Research Experience award, or FYSRE, honouring TRIUMF’s fourth Director Dr. Erich Vogt (1929-2014), one of the most distinguished Canadian nuclear physicists of his generation (right, leaping over an early TRIUMF construction line)
“FYSRE changed everything for me. I felt so lucky to have this amazing community of scientists to learn from, and the opportunity to participate in actual research projects.”
– Jenny Zhu, former FYSRE recipient
In 2014, the ARIEL project achieved a major milestone with the production of its first particle beam at 23 MeV using the TRIUMF-designed and built superconducting electron linear accelerator. The success of the e-linac is a culmination of work from 13 institutions across Canada and many industry partners.
ARTMS (Alternative Radioisotope Technologies for Medical Science) was founded by a group of TRIUMF scientists to tackle major shortages in the most commonly-used medical isotope, technetium-99m. ARTMS was awarded the 2015 Brockhouse Prize and remains a major TRIUMF success story, providing key support to the national isotope supply.
In 2016, TRIUMF contributors to the Antihydrogen Laser Physics Apparatus (ALPHA) announced the first ever measurement on the optical spectrum of an antihydrogen atom, paving the way for new studies to shine a light on antimatter’s otherworldly characteristics.
“Laser measurement on antimatter atoms has been a dream in the field for decades!”
– Makoto Fujiwara, Senior Scientist and ALPHA-Canada Spokesperson
Beginning in 2017, TRIUMF’s Tier-1 centre began transitioning to a new state-of-the-art facility at Simon Fraser University. Today, under the careful eye of TRIUMF personnel, the centre receives and stores vast amounts of data from the ATLAS detector.
TRIUMF launched its commercialization arm, TRIUMF Innovations, in 2017. Since its inception, the TRIUMF Innovations team has spun off five companies, stewarded TRIUMF’s critical industry relationships, and co-led the development of the Canadian Medical Isotope Ecosystem (CMIE).
Hello, IAMI!
Across the 2010s, TRIUMF began a multi-year effort to design, build, and commission the Institute for Advanced Medical Isotopes (IAMI), a cutting-edge facility for research on next-generation medical isotopes and radiopharmaceuticals. Situated on campus, IAMI features interconnected labs and a TR-24 medical cyclotron, among the most advanced commercial cyclotrons in the world.
Slated for first operations in 2026, IAMI will significantly enhance BC (and Canada’s) ability to produce not only critically-needed diagnostic isotopes like technetium-99m, but also explore new and promising therapeutic isotopes, which cure diseases directly – including actinium-225.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited TRIUMF in 2018 to mark 50 years since first funding and announce $10.23 million in additional funding for IAMI. Prime Minister Trudeau was presented with a framed image of his father, former Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, from the day he helped commission TRIUMF in 1976.
“Many isotopes emit alpha particles, but they leave behind poisonous byproducts, or can’t be attached to a drug. Actinium-225 is the Goldilocks isotope. It’s just right – except for one thing..”
– Caterina Ramogida, Researcher and Adjunct Professor (SFU)
Dubbed the “World’s Rarest Drug”, actinium-225 shows tremendous promise for revolutionizing treatment for cancer and other diseases – but it cannot be produced fast enough to meet demand.
With IAMI, TRIUMF is creating a national epicentre for production, research, and development of actinium-225 – as well as other emerging medical isotopes.
In 2017, the TRIUMF Ultra Cold Advanced Neutron source collaboration (TUCAN) produced the first ultracold neutrons (UCNs) ever created in Canada, a gigantic leap towards providing the world’s largest density of ultra-cold neutrons and measuring the neutron Electric Dipole Moment (nEDM). This experiment could unlock the reasons for the asymmetry between matter and antimatter in our universe – one of the biggest mysteries in physics today.
After decades of care, TRIUMF’s Proton Therapy Centre quietly ceased clinical operations in 2018, as patients gained access to dedicated facilities across North America. In its time, the Centre served as a place of hope and healing. Its staff received countless well-wishes, thank-you notes, and cards – small, heartfelt reminders of lives touched (and saved) by their work.
“To all who have been involved in the Proton Therapy Centre: words are inadequate for sharing my gratitude for your kindness and your compassion. You will forever be remembered in our hearts.”
– Anonymous
In 2018, TRIUMF announced major federal funding to build five sophisticated ‘crab cavities’ as part of Canada’s contribution to upgrade the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest and most-powerful subatomic research tool.
“Thanks to TRIUMF’s ambitious international partnerships, Canadian researchers have been at the centre of some of the most important global research projects.”
– The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science
TRIUMF’s Applied Technology Group celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2019. ATG teams wield a suite of cyclotrons to produce nearly 2 million patient doses of critically-needed medical isotopes annually.
“What is so remarkable is TRIUMF’s sustained contribution, across more than 40 years, to the development and production of critical and life-saving medical isotopes.”
– Gabriel Cojocaru, Former ATG Cyclotron Operations Group Leader
2020s
National Asset, Global Impact
Amid the uncertainty of the COVID pandemic and other global challenges, TRIUMF’s community remained steady. While pursuing scientific discovery, the lab responded to a changing world by supporting national healthcare, strengthening research security, and training the next generation of STEM leaders.
In early 2020, soon after the global pandemic was declared, TRIUMF co-led an international effort to design and build a respirator for COVID patients. The collaboration, led by dark matter experimenters, drew on world-leading expertise in gas flow and exchange systems.
As much of the world socially-distanced, TRIUMF’s cyclotron operations teams continued their essential on-site work in cramped control rooms and cyclotron vaults to produce medical isotopes necessary for PET scans for cancer patients, Alzheimer’s and Parkinsons disease, and more.
In 2023, the TRIUMF-built ‘ALPHA-g’ antimatter gravity detector, installed at CERN, enabled the very first measurement of the effect of gravity on antimatter.
And our story continues . . .
TRIUMF continues to push the horizons of knowledge and deliver impact for Canadians, and so our story continues.
Visit TRIUMF.ca to learn more about our work, and Discover our Lab to explore our public outreach content from TRIUMF.
See something that should be added to the TRIUMF timeline? Help us keep writing by sharing your story, an old image, or anything else:
