50 years ago
A small team of physicists, engineers, and support staff finished construction of the world’s largest cyclotron and coaxed forth Canada’s first high-energy proton beam.
Since then, beams from TRIUMF’s cyclotron have united physicists, engineers and others from Canada and around the world in our shared goal to explore the universe and build a better world.
1974
The news spread like wildfire
“It would be hard to exaggerate the relief and exhilaration everyone felt at having finally achieved the goal we had worked towards for so many years. The news spread like wildfire and the Control Room was soon inundated with visitors from both inside and outside the lab, many of them bringing refreshments for an impromptu celebration.”
– Michael Craddock,
Head of Accelerator Physics, 55 years at the lab
TRIUMF’s history is filled with stories: amazing feats of cleverness, quiet victories at midnight, and touching anecdotes of solidarity and connection.
Many of these have never been recorded, and exist only in the hearts and minds of our community.
Help us share these stories to commemorate our 50th anniversary of first beam:
50 Years, 50 Stories.
“I think the biggest thing about TRIUMF was the people – and that’s still true now.”
– Doug Preddy, Head of Beamlines Group,
42 years at the lab
share your story
We are asking for :
anecdotes
video/audio
photos
interviews
artifacts
Please let us know if you would like to contribute.
- Send us an email with a brief summary of your story.
- Together, we’ll decide how to share this with the community: text, photos, an audio or video recording, a physical artifact, etc.
- We will publish your story here, building our shared TRIUMF history towards the 50th anniversary of first beam on December 15, 2024.