Crocker Nuclear Laboratory

The front of Crocker Lab in the summer of 2005.

Crocker Nuclear Laboratory (CNL) is named for (William H. Crocker) [1861-1937] and is home to a 76-inch isochronous cyclotron. It was built in 1965. A member of the well-known Crocker family of Northern California and founder of Crocker National Bank, W.H. Crocker sat on the UC Board of Regents for nearly thirty years and funded the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory's second cyclotron. UC Davis' particle accelerator is primarily used for air quality research, radiation effects on electronic systems used in space missions and the treatment of occular melanoma.

IMPROVE (Interagency Monitoring for Protected Visual Environments) particulate monitoring network. The beam is also used by visiting researchers from other schools, labs, or industries in their experiments.

Crocker Lab is one of the few labs in the nation with a Retinal Melanoma treatment facility. They boast a near 100% success rate in treating this particularly virulent form of cancer (link to article).

The lab has provided analysis of such historical documents as the Gutenberg Bible and the Vinland Map.  In 1987, evidence supporting the assertion that the Sibyllenbuch fragment is the oldest surviving remnant of a printed work was provided by the cyclotron. 

For Crocker Nuclear Laboratory's 40th anniversary Andy Fell wrote a spotlight article called Crocker Nuclear Lab at 40. It's four sub articles are, History: a legacy from Berkeley, What is a cyclotron?, 'Project Clean Air' to the rescue, and Cyclotron applications. It can be viewed on the UC Davis website here.

See Also

• For additional nuclear research assets see McClellan Nuclear Radiation Center.
• For more information, see the Crocker Nuclear Laboratory's website.
• Here's a great article in The California Aggie about the lab.

Save the ice cream for someone who finds an article without an error. There are no "organic elements" just organic molecules and compounds and so on - JasonAller

Wow, I should have asked you guys to proofread my article before it went in...thanks for catching that, you are careful readers. - CristinaDeptula

We got a kick out of the article here at the lab. Good job. Actually the error I mentioned wasn't the "organic elements" reference. It's that nitrogen cannot be detected using the method described in paragraph 8. But, I think, other than a couple of researchers at the lab, nobody else noticed. ;) - JesseSingh

2019-06-16 04:12:14   Q: My father manufactured radioactive isotpes at the lab in the 1980s. He sometimes stayed home from work because he had been exposed to "too many rads". Can such levels of radiation harm family members living in the same home? Thank you in advance for responding. —Ramblingal

• Exposure to radiation is not at all contagious.  It's very much like a sunburn (which is caused by a different kind of radiation, but otherwise very similar).  It is no more dangerous to be in the same room as somebody who was exposed to radiation than it is to be in the same room as somebody who has a sunburn.  He was not radioactive any more than somebody with a sunburn emits sunlight. -- Evan 'JabberWokky' Edwards