Backscatter
Foreshadowing, the Liverpool Way
It’ s well-known that Liverpool ' s ' Fab Four ' erupted onto the world stage in the 1960s. Less well-known is that there is a connection between The Beatles and radiation. However, the connection is not that they performed at Oldbury Nuclear Power Station, that story is sadly a myth.
Back in 1962 when the Beatles signed with Electric & Musical Industries, or EMI as we know it now, the organisation was still involved in manufacturing and research, employing scientists and engineers to work on a variety of projects.
One of these scientists was Godfrey Hounsfield, who developed computerised axial tomography( CAT). CAT allowed X-rays to be interpreted to create a two-dimensional image, leading eventually to the now familiar CT-scan. The Beatles part in this was that the enormous profits they made for EMI, along with government grants, helped to fund Hounsfield ' s research allowing him to take his unproven idea and eventually produce the ' EMI scanner ', the prototype for today ' s CT-scanners. Hounsfield shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1979 and was knighted in 1981 for his role in developing computerised tomography( CT).
Build Your Own Tokamak
Anyone who wants to build a model to display their love of fusion in their home has a number of options.
The ITER Organization( home of the world’ s largest tokamak fusion reactor) has released simplified CAD files so anyone with access to a 3D printer can create their own 1:100 scale model. It was designed with students in mind, so can be taken apart to reveal the D-shaped superconducting magnets and the vacuum vessel inside.
Interestingly the yarn community doesn’ t seem to have produced any knit or crochet patterns for a cuddly version of a tokamak – surely there is an opportunity here? Send us a picture if you’ ve made one!
Perhaps the easiest way to make one would be with Lego ®. However, a wonderfully detailed model of the MAST Upgrade( MAST- U) tokamak, which was submitted to the Lego ® Product Ideas site failed to get enough votes to be considered as a future kit. But nothing is stopping you from creating your own!
Are you now humming the Beatles ' 1965 song ' I ' m Looking Through You '…?!
The Beatles Statue on the Liverpool Waterfront is a popular selfie spot – delegates at the IRPA Congress please take note!
Find the tokamak in this photo!
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