1947: Immortal Strawberries and Lichtenberg Figures in Brooklyn

[beamjockey]

Yes indeed, Fritz Goro did take more pictures of Lichtenberg figures in Dr. Arno Brasch's laboratory on his visit during chilly February of 1947; as I mentioned in an earlier posting, they are tagged "Capacitron". This was the name of Brasch's device for generating an electron beam. He was using it to irradiate foods in the hope of killing bacteria, allowing the food to be preserved without decay for long periods.

As you may recall, I spotted some of these pictures and recognized what they were. The earliest account in scientific literature of producing Lichtenberg figures with a particle accelerator appeared in 1956 (though it mentions that the novelty had been known among beamslingers for years; accelerator salesmen gave them to customers as souvenirs). I was able to show that Goro's photos had illustrated a story in the March 10, 1947 issue of Life.
Looking at a larger sample from the shoot, some of the pictures seem a bit overexposed, lending them a mad-scientist air. "At LAST! My high-voltage ELECTRON FACTORY has finally created a STRAWBERRY that will last FOREVER!! BWA-Hahahahahah!"





 

Comments

[apostle-of-eris.livejournal.com]

My uncle (my father's older brother) may have participated in the irradiation of that strawberry.
He was a food engineer (my phrasing, I don't know what his profession was called officially), and was involved in testing irradiation of food for preservation. iirc, one serious problem was that the radiation which sterilized the food degraded the plastic it was contained in . . .

[gomeza.livejournal.com]

So do we know what the "capacitron" really was? It sounds and looks like a Marx or Fitch-type impulse generator.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

I think Bert Hickman said it was a Marx generator, but you know more about these things than I do.

Look, here's a 1951 Popular Mechanics article saying more about this machine (and including a color photo of a Lichtenberg figure):

http://books.google.com/books?id=AdkDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA97

[gomeza.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, so it is, so it is.
Thanks.

[tanac.livejournal.com]

You post such interesting stuff.

[gypsy1969.livejournal.com]

Yes he does!