Celebrating its 50th anniversary on UK’s campus, the Accelerator Lab is the giant cylinder in front of the Chem/Phys Building. Mysterious to many visitors to campus, and affectionately but incorrectly referred to as the “Atom Smasher” by others, it houses a 7-million-volt small particle accelerator used by the Physics Department for various experiments, such as studying the form and shapes of stable nuclei.

Marcus T. McEllistrem, the man that helped bring the accelerator to campus reflects back on some of its history.