Innovation Was Not Enough; The History of the Midwestern Universities Research Association

During the years 1953-1965, Donald Kerst assembled a bunch of young physicists to develop plans for a major particle accelerator in the Midwest. This MURA group was remarkably productive; they developed the FFAG concept, a comprehensive understanding of rf acceleration and beam stacking, colliding beams, and much more, plus the successful construction of electron models incorporating and testing these concepts. Although MURA never realized the large regional accelerator which was the objective of these activities, the group's innovations and developments marked a major chapter in the evolution of particle accelerators.