G. Christopher Anderson's story "Accelerator Planners Worry That SSC May Be A Hard Act To Follow" (The Scientist, Feb. 5, 1990, page 1), was very interesting. It triggered the thought: Do the early Rutherford experiments and the Cyclotron energy levels of the 1940s fit into his plot of log energy versus time? An "eagle eye" look at this plot indicates that the Bevatron fits onto his plot at about the right place.
I realize that the intent of the plot relates to international competition for bigger and better accelerators. Technology forecasting makes use of these plots to follow status of a given technology and to identify when a new technology will develop in order to continue progress. Perhaps there is also such a plot for the century to indicate progress.
