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(Left) “Cobalt Bomb” Used by Physics Students, circa 1951 (Right) Schematics for a Cobalt-60 Device, date unknown

Montage of two images. On the left, a woman and a man are adjusting the placement of a large suspended telescopic machine. The two people seem to be pointing it toward a metal tank filled with water. On the right, a technical drawing in black on white. In English, the names of the parts and materials are listed. The image's resolution prevents reading the names of the parts, but the materials legend can be read: Lead; Steel; Heavy metal.

USask Archives, circa 1951 and date unknown.

(Left) The “Cobalt-60 Beam Therapy Units,” or telecobalt therapy devices are Canadian-made machines designed to treat cancer. They were invented simultaneously in Saskatchewan and Ontario at the end of the 1940s. Seen here are two physics students gathering data by testing the machine before its first use on patients. 

(Right) Schematics of the device known as a “cobalt bomb.” The document includes the names of the parts depicted and the materials used. The archives tell us that the schematics represent the machine’s collimator and the cone from which rays were projected during treatment.