By David Raubach, Oklahoma Proton Center & Executive Producer of The Accelerator
“When was the first cancer patient treated with proton therapy?”
We ask this question during new patient orientation at Oklahoma Proton Center. The answers vary — some even get it right — but most guesses skew much later: the 1980s, 1990s, or early 2000s.
Many patients are surprised, then, to learn the first proton therapy treatment occurred more than seventy years ago, in 1954, at the University of California’s Berkeley Radiation Laboratory. That year, Dr. John Lawrence — brother of cyclotron inventor Ernest Lawrence — oversaw the treatment of a breast cancer patient with Berkeley’s 184 inch cyclotron.
I was a history major in college and have always been fascinated by the story of how things come to be. How did a technology or invention get developed? Who were the scientists, engineers, inventors, and visionaries who imagined something that is commonplace today, but once did not exist at all?
Thus, when I entered the proton therapy industry in 2010, I had to know who was responsible for a science that made it possible to accelerate subatomic particles to nearly two-thirds the speed of light — fast enough for a proton to circle the earth nearly five times in a second! — and yet deliver that proton with millimeter precision into a patient’s body.
More specifically…
Who was the Father of the Cyclotron? – Ernest Lawrence.
The Father of Nuclear Medicine? – Dr. John Lawrence.
The Father of Heavy Ion Radiobiology? – Dr. Cornelius Tobias.
And ultimately — who was the FATHER OF PROTON THERAPY?
Turns out, that person was Dr. Robert R. Wilson.
As I began reading about Wilson’s life, I found myself captivated by his story. He grew up in Wyoming in a broken home, splitting time between parents. His grandmother instilled in him a Quaker philosophy rooted in peace and a love of nature. He developed a passion for science at a young age, eventually leading him to the University of California, Berkeley.
One day, as the story goes, he stood outside a laboratory in the rain, staring through the window and wondering what incredible work was happening inside. He would eventually join that laboratory — the world’s first Radiation Laboratory — under the tutelage of Ernest Lawrence. Dr. Robert Oppenheimer also worked there, during a period when groundbreaking discoveries in particle acceleration and nuclear physics were unfolding almost daily.
Many members of that laboratory would eventually join the Manhattan Project. Wilson initially resisted, as the anti-war convictions of his Quaker upbringing created a deep moral conflict. He ultimately agreed to participate at the personal urging of Oppenheimer and under the belief that the atomic bomb was being developed as a deterrent against Nazi Germany, which was believed to be pursuing the same weapon.
In interviews after the war, Wilson expressed profound regret for his role in developing the world’s most devastating weapon and for the destruction inflicted on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. “I do not understand why I did not walk away when Germany surrendered,” he later said.
Haunted by the experience, Wilson dedicated the remainder of his scientific career to what he described as “altruistic uses for the technology we developed.” That mission — combined with his extraordinary understanding of particle physics and biology — led him to publish Radiological Use of Fast Protons in 1946, a paper that laid out the scientific rationale for using protons and the Bragg Peak effect to treat cancer while minimizing damage to healthy tissue.
It was an extraordinary story of redemption.
Here was a man who helped create one of history’s greatest instruments of destruction, only to spend the rest of his life pursuing scientific advances that would ultimately help save hundreds of thousands of lives.
It felt like a story worth telling.
In 2022, I began outlining a documentary about Dr. Robert Wilson. After some valuable input on the story from Heather Jacobson, Vice President at Blue ORCA Marketing, we began pitching the idea to independent studios and eventually formed a partnership with Prairie Surf Studios in Oklahoma City.
Over the next two years, the team spent hundreds of hours researching archival materials including pouring through letters written by Dr. Wilson and watching old family films that his three sons were gracious enough to provide. We interviewed friends, family members, colleagues, historians, and industry experts around the country.
We traveled to Cornell University, where Wilson spent much of his academic career; Fermilab, where he served as founding director; and Loma Linda University, home of the world’s first hospital-based proton therapy center. We also unexpectedly got permission to use behind the scenes footage from Dr. Wilson’s time on the Manhattan project thanks to the help of a U.S. Senator from Oklahoma.
We were fortunate to collaborate with an incredible creative team. Steven Drozd, of the Flaming Lips composed a custom soundtrack, while Wendy Garrett directed and Christopher Hunt served as lead editor.
Together, they created a film that was powerful, personal, and deeply meaningful. Their work helped the film gain acceptance into multiple festivals, including honors recognition at the International Uranium Film Festival.
I want to give a special thanks as well to Dr. Steven Frank for sharing his clinical perspective in the film, and to Lauren Whitaker, an incredibly courageous breast cancer patient who allowed us to document portions of her treatment journey.
I believe that stories like this matter.
Perhaps that is natural for me to say as someone who loves history. But I really believe the medicine and technology we have the privilege to use every day are extraordinary, and the stories behind them — and the people responsible for them — are equally extraordinary.
I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to help bring a small part of that story to film and hope that this documentary serves as a lasting legacy for the people and cancer patients impacted by this incredible technology.
To learn more and to watch the film, visit theacceleratorfilm.com.
