Gallop, John Winston (b.1910)

  • Gallop, John Winston, b.1910.
Date:
1949-1980
Reference:
GC/160
  • Archives and manuscripts

Collection contents

About this work

Description

Journal kept by Gallop during the building of the MRC Cyclotron Unit, Hammersmith, 1949-56, plus reports, correspondence and photographs, re the MRC cyclotron and many in American institutions. The 'MRC Policy' files contain reports and correspondence generated during the planning and execution of the cyclotron project, and give a good picture of the background negotiations as well as the day-to-day administration. Gallop's tutorial to the Stafford Hospital Postgraduate Medical School (G.1) summarises his view of the process. Both Gallop and J W Boag sent detailed reports of the cyclotrons which they visited in the USA in 1949-1950 (C.1-6), which Gallop prepared for publication (C.7) and lectures (C.8). The correspondence in Sections D and E contains further reports, and the personal correspondence (Section F), especially the letters from Boag, includes further thoughts on cyclotron development and use.

Publication/Creation

1949-1980

Physical description

8 boxes

Contributors

Arrangement

The collection is divided into sections as follows: A Gallop's 'Journals' Mar 1949-Sep 1956 B 'MRC Policy' files 1949-1957 C Tours of American cyclotrons, 1949, 1950 D American Universities: correspondence, etc., re US cyclotrons E Correspondence with institutions outside the USA F Personal correspondence G Writings H Photographs I MRC Cyclotron Silver Jubilee, 1955-1980

Acquisition note

These papers and photographs were given to the Contemporary Medical Archives Centre by Gallop in two accessions, the first via J W Boag, Professor of Physics as Applied to Medicine at the University of London, in November 1993, and the second via Dr Anne Andrews in April 1994. A copy of the Cyclotron Unit Silver Jubilee history (1980) was added to this collection at Gallop's request (GC/160/I).

Biographical note

John W Gallop career summary

1932-1936 Junior posts with the Bournemouth and Poole Electricity Supply Company

1936-1942 Technical Assistant, Bournemouth and Poole Electricity Supply Company. Designed and installed the company's first multiple earthing scheme

1942-1946 Technical Officer, Telecommunications Research Establishment, Malvern - Deputy Leader of team developing radar transmitters for the RAF

1946-1948 Senior Scientific Officer, Ministry of Supply Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell - leader of team developing the synchrotron

1948-1958 Senior Cyclotron Engineer, MRC - organising recruitment of the Radiotherapeutic Research Unit's cylotron team at Hammersmith Hospital, and supervising the design and construction of the first medical cyclotron, with accompanying laboratory buildings which also contained an 8 MeV linear acceleration

1958-1971 Senior Executive Research Engineer in charge of Gas Discharge Physics at the Nelson Research Laboratories, English Electric Co., Stafford (part of the High Temperature Physics Team under Dr R Latham at Imperial College, London), 1958-1959

Chronology of the Cyclotron Project

c.1940 Dr Constance Wood's work at the Radium Institute on comparison of radium and 22 kV X-Rays indicated that higher voltages of radiation give the best dose distribution

1941 2 MeV Van de Graaff generator designed and built at Hammersmith Hospital by J W Boag for the MRC's Radiotherapeutic Research Unit, directed by Constance Wood. By 1945 the machine was near completion, but design had been overtaken by new accelerators such as the linear accelerator

1945 Dr L H ('Hal') Gray joined the Hammersmith Hospital team to include radiobiology in the Unit's programme. He discovered that X-radiation is less effective than neutron bombardment unless oxygen is present, and since tumours tend to be anoxic, a cyclotron was needed to produce neutrons

1948 The MRC decided to install both a 10 MeV Linear Accelerator and a 60" or 65" cyclotron at Hammersmith, the latter to provide the facilities for research into neutron therapy, radiobiology and isotope production. JWG was appointed Senior Cyclotron Engineer, having worked on the team at the Telecommunications Research Establishment, Malvern, which produced the first synchrotron

Gallop put together a team to build the cyclotron themselves, with Derry Vonberg in charge of the vacuum system, Bill Powell of the magnetic field and ion source, and Peter Waterton to design the v.f. system, based at a former Prisoner of War camp on Scrubs Common next to the hospital

1950 Gallop undertook tour of existing cyclotrons in the USA

Proposal to cancel the whole project due to excessive quotation for building led to redesign. Sir Harold Himsworth, MRC Secretary, convened an advisory committee chaired by Sir Ernest Rock Carling, which, under the guidance of Professor Mayneord, approved the building of a 45" cyclotron

After disagreement with L H Gray, Wood submitted a report discounting all purposes for the cyclotron other than neutron therapy. Gray and J W Boag resigned and Gallop continued with the original programme: to build a machine to be used primarily for radiobiology with isotope production as a possibility.

Related material

At Wellcome Collection: Of specific relevance to this collection are the records of the operation of the MRC Cyclotron Unit and Radiotherapeutic Research Unit (SA/MCU) and the papers of Constance Wood (GC/95). Other collections of general relevance to radiotherapy are listed in an Archives and Manuscripts department sources leaflet.

Appraisal note

The material was found in good order. The order within files has been maintained for the most part, apart from disposal of duplicates and removal of some reports of a specialist nature from the 'general policy' file (B.11) to the files to which they appear to relate - Gallop's 'Notes to Dr Wood on neutron therapy and the MRC Cyclotron' (27 March 1953) to the 'Neutron therapy' file (B.14) and N. Veall's report "Production of radioactive isotopes" (April 1953) to the "Isotope Production" file (B.13).

Notes

Abbreviations used in the catalogue: " inch kV Kilovolt MeV Megavolt MRC Medical Research Council RRU Radiotherapeutic Research Unit USA United States of America

Subjects

Permanent link

Identifiers

Accession number

  • 490; 509