An Alabama inventor who makes your hair stand on end (al.com)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Shelly Haskins | [e-mail]
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on October 15, 2017 at 7:01 AM, updated October 15, 2017 at 7:06 AM

If you've ever been to a science museum and put your hand on a metal globe that made your hair stand on end, you can thank an Alabamian.

The device that makes kids giggle while learning about static electricity, and until modern times created the energy needed for important nuclear physics experiments, is called the Van de Graaff generator.

It's named for its inventor, Robert Jemison Van de Graaff, an MIT and Princeton professor who was born in Tuscaloosa in 1901 and earned his bachelor's degree and master's in mechanical engineering from the University of Alabama in 1922 and 1923, respectively.
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During World War II Van de Graaff was director of the High Voltage Radiographic Project. After World War II he started the High Voltage Engineering Corporation with John G. Trump, the paternal uncle of President Donald Trump. The two co-developed the one of the first million-volt X-ray generators.
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more: http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2017/10/an_alabama_inventor_who_makes.html



I grew up in AL, but never knew about the connection to Van de Graaf.

ETA: Make your own Van de Graaf generator ! p487 (p508 of the pdf doc)

[cos dem]

1. You can still see his "Van de Graaff" generators in action at the Boston Museum of Science.

https://www.mos.org/live-presentations/lightning

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Had not heard of him either....

thanks for the info.

[Thor_MN]

3. John G. Trump, the reason shitgibbon thinks he has high IQ

which should also make one's hair stand on end.