The path to high-energy electron-positron colliders: from Wideroe's betatron to Touschek's AdA and to LEP

TL;DR

This paper traces the historical development of electron-positron colliders, highlighting key figures, technological advances, and experimental milestones from the 1930s to the 1960s.

Contribution

It provides a detailed historical account of the technological and scientific progress leading to the first electron-positron collider, emphasizing the collaboration between key scientists and engineers.

Findings

Development of the 15 MeV betatron during WWII.

Construction and operation of the first electron-positron collider, AdA.

Proof of particle collisions using the Orsay Linear Accelerator.

Abstract

We describe the road which led to the construction and exploitation of electron positron colliders, hightlighting how the young physics student Bruno Touschek met the Norwegian engineer Rolf Wideroe in Germany, during WWII, and collaborated in building the 15 MeV betatron, a secret project directed by Wideroe and financed by the Ministry of Aviation of the Reich. This is how Bruno Touschek learnt the science of making particle accelerators and was ready, many years later, to propose and build AdA, the first electron positron collider, in Frascati, Italy, in 1960. We shall then see how AdA was brought from Frascati to Orsay, in France. Taking advantage of the Orsay Linear Accelerator as injector, the Franco-Italian team was able to prove that collisions had taken place, opening the way to the use of particle colliders as a mean to explore high energy physics.