Van de Graaff, Robert J

Van de Graaff, Robert J(emison)

(born Dec. 20, 1901, Tuscaloosa, Ala., U.S.—died Jan. 16, 1967, Boston, Mass.) U.S. physicist. He worked as an engineer, then as a physics researcher at the University of Oxford (1925–29). From 1931 he continued his research at MIT, as a professor (1934–60). He developed a high-voltage electrostatic generator (later called the Van de Graaff generator) that served as a type of particle accelerator. In 1946 he cofounded the High Voltage Engineering Corp. to manufacture his accelerator. Widely used in atomic research, the device was also adapted to produce high-energy X rays for medical and industrial uses.