John G. Trump is known for his contribution to the development of radiation therapy

21 August 1907, New York (USA) - 21 February 1985, Cambridge (Massachusetts, USA)

John George Trump, after graduating from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute in 1929 with a degree in electrical engineering, received his doctorate from Columbia University. Shortly afterward, he joined the General Electric Company, where he remained for only a few years, until he joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1936 as an assistant professor, teaching until 1973 as associate professor and full professor.

During his early years at MIT, he collaborated with Professor R.J. Van de Graaff in the study of the voltage-insulating properties of compressed and high vacuum gases, and the application of Van de Graaff's electrostatic generator to the production of X-rays for use in medicine.

Trump designed one of the first million-volt X-ray generators, which was first used in cancer therapy for Collins P. Huntington Memorial Hospital in Boston in 1937.

During World War II, Trump focused on national defense projects. He served as secretary of the National Defence Research Committee, was director of the British branch of the Radiation Laboratory, and worked at the MIT Radiation Laboratory as deputy director in charge of the Field Service, among others.

After the war, Trump returned to MIT to teach and conduct research for three decades. With his collaborators, he resumed his studies of high-voltage phenomena, the acceleration of high-energy electrons, and the interaction of such radiation with living and non-living matter. He directed the MIT High Voltage Research Laboratory from 1945 to 1980.

In 1949 he initiated, with the medical staff of the Lahey Clinic in Boston, research on the use of two-million-volt X-rays in the therapy of malignant diseases.

Throughout his life, Trump contributed numerous important papers in the fields of electrical engineering and radiology.

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