United States. In 1945, Ernest Lawrence visited the General Electric Research Labs in Schenectady, New York, and came up with the idea of spinning electrons in a single orbit, rather than spiraling them. In 1944, Herb Pollock had led a team at the General Electric Research Labs in Schenectady, New York, to build a 130-ton, 100-MeV betatron. And in 1940, the first working betatron was built: unlike cyclotrons, it used magnetic induction to accelerate electrons. Shortly thereafter, it was able to accelerate electrons to 99.99% the speed of light. Ernest Lawrence’s idea in 1945 would lead to synchrotrons, the first of which began operating in October 1946 at the General Electric laboratories.
