Cambridge HEP Group History - Sweepnik

Sweepnik was an apparatus invented and built in the Cavendish Laboratory for the automated scanning of bubble chamber film. The name was inspired by the first artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik.

In 1970, the Cavendish Laboratory hosted the 10th International Conference on Data Handling Systems in High-Energy Physics organised by Otto Frisch and John Rushbrooke. The conference proceedings include contemporary descriptions of the Sweepnik apparatus Frisch, Baker, Davies and Street (PDF). In his contribution, Frisch describes the way Sweepnik follows nearby particle tracks as being "like a driver clenching the steering wheel in a patch of fog". The Sweepnik principle is also described at the Cambridge Physics website. Follow the sidelink to find out more.