Word: positrons
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Dates: during 1952-1952
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...even create negative protons, which would be really sensational. Ordinary protons are positively charged. Combined with one or more negative electrons, they form the familiar atoms of ordinary matter. But scientists have already created positive electrons (positrons). This suggests that it may be possible to create negative protons (not yet named nega-tons). Combined with positrons, these should form "reversed matter." An atom of "anti-hydrogen," for instance, would have a negative proton as its nucleus, with a positron instead of an electron revolving around...
...physicists agree that negative protons are possible, but some like to speculate on the properties of reversed matter. It may turn into energy as soon as it encounters atoms of normal matter (when a positron hits an electron, they annihilate each other, leaving gamma rays as an X to mark the spot. All such possibilities, says Auger, are on "the frontiers of science." Only the 30 billion-volt cosmotron can test their reality...
Addressing a group of science writers visiting Boston under the sponsorship of the American Cancer Society, Sweet and Brownell disclosed that surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital are using a "positron," an atomic particle emitted from material made radio-active in the M.I.T. cyclotron, to detect and locate brain tumors...
Sweet and Dr. Manucher Javid, Research Fellow in Surgery, explained that the "positron" technique is one of diagnosis while the use of boron may possibly be found of advantage for therapy following surgical operations in which brain tumors have been partially or totally removed...