Operation at 1000 MeV of the frascati electronsynchrotron

Bruno Touschek and AdA: From Frascati to Orsay

“…The idea of electron-positron collisions had been suggested by Bruno Touschek in a meeting held to discuss the laboratory future projects on February 17, 1960. 4 At that time, the electron synchrotron had been in operation at Frascati Laboratory since early 1959 (Alberigi et al 1959) and, in November of the same year, the CERN Proton Synchrotron (PS) had accelerated its first protons. During the meeting, especially devoted to the creation of a theoretical group in Frascati, Touschek suddenly came up with what, at the moment, looked like a strange proposal: transforming the brand new electron synchrotron into an electron-positron storage ring (Amman 1989, 449).…”

Touschek with AdA in Orsay and the first direct observation of electron-positron collisions

“…Fermi's dream came true in 1959 when a 1100 MeV electron synchrotron started operating in the new laboratories built near Frascati, an ancient town south-east of Rome, built on the slopes of the hills of volcanic origin, which look down to the city spreading wide along the Tiber and towards the Tyrrhenian Sea. 5 The Frascati laboratory was officially born in 1957, when offices and buildings housing the synchrotron were ready, an official address was assigned as Via del Sincrotrone 12, Frascati and a team of scientists, engineers and technicians arrived from Pisa, where part of the equipment for the synchrotron had been under construction since 1955 (Alberigi et al 1959), under the direction of Giorgio Salvini. 6 In Orsay, a dream had also come true in the post-war years: the dream of Frédéric Joliot and Irène Joliot-Curie, who had supported the creation of a large research labo- 4 For an historical overview on Fermi's frustrated plans to have an accelerator and an institute for nuclear physics in Rome see (Battimelli and Gambaro 1997).…”