# John G. Trump

John George Trump (August 21, 1907 – February 21, 1985) was an American electrical engineer, inventor, and physicist. A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 1936 to 1985, he was a recipient of the National Medal of Science and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Trump was noted for developing rotational radiation therapy. Together with Robert J. Van de Graaff, he developed one of the first million-volt X-ray generators. He was the paternal uncle of Donald Trump.

## Early life and education

Trump was born in 1907, the youngest of three children of German immigrants Frederick and Elizabeth Christ Trump. When Trump was 11, his father died in the 1918 influenza pandemic.
His brother, Fred, joined their mother in real estate development and management while still in his teens (Elizabeth Trump & Son). Initially, John and his brother tried working together building houses, but ultimately they dissolved their partnership, and John pursued a career in electrical engineering.
Trump received his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1929 and his master's degree in physics from Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1931.
In 1931, Trump enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to pursue doctoral training. Vannevar Bush, dean of MIT's engineering school, encouraged him to work Robert J. Van de Graaff, who had recently invented the electrostatic generator bearing his name and sought to scale it up. To power the van de Graaff generator's vacuum cylinder, Trump proposed a 60-hz, alternating-current motor. Using Trump's power design, it was possible to build a 12-meter, 5000-kV generator. This experimental generator was successfully installed and demonstrated at Round Hill. The Round Hill generator was returned to MIT, where it was installed in a dedicated building until 1947. It remains in educational use today, displayed at the Boston Museum of Science.
Trump received his doctorate of electrical engineering in 1933. His thesis, "Vacuum Electrostatic Engineering," examined the factors governing voltage-insulation strength in vacuums. After graduating, Trump remained at MIT as a research associate, then joined the faculty in 1937.
In his first years on the MIT faculty, Trump pursued research in medical applications of high-voltage radiation. In 1938, he designed and installed a 1-mV Van de Graaff generator for x-ray therapy at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Boston. The machine was used to treat patients with skin cancer lesions. Further experiments with compressed gases in vacuum allowed Trump to design a smaller, higher-powered generator for cancer treatment, which was used at Massachusetts General Hospital for fifteen years.
With World War II engulfing Europe and Asia, the United States military began expanding its fleet production. Trump investigated practical applications of x-rays in military industry. With Carlton G. Lutts, an engineer at Boston Navy Yard, Trump discovered that his high-voltage generator could detect manufacturing defects in ships and aircraft.

## War service

During World War II, Trump switched from work on hospital X-ray machines to research into similar technologies, especially the development of radar. During 1940, he joined the newly formed National Defense Research Committee (NDRC), as technical aide to Karl Compton, president of MIT, who was serving also as the chairman of the radar division within the NDRC.
During 1942, Trump became secretary of the microwave committee, a sub-committee of the NDRC. The director of the microwave committee was Alfred Lee Loomis, the "millionaire physicist", who decided to create a laboratory. He selected a site for it, chose a suitably discreet and ambiguous name for it, and funded its construction, until governmental administration was established. The new institution came to be called the MIT Radiation Laboratory, or the "Rad Lab". As wartime shortages in Britain increased, many of its radar researchers would move to the well-funded laboratory at MIT, where they helped create groundbreaking progress in developing practical devices and systems, which would see widespread field deployment in combat.
The British had already started researching radar, which they termed Radio Direction Finder (RDF). Their Tizard Mission to the US showed how much more advanced they were with some of the key technologies, particularly the magnetron. The US decided to send a team to Britain to help coordinate their efforts with the "British Branch of the Radiation Laboratory" (BBRL), which operated as a department of Britain's Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) at Malvern, in Worcestershire. From February 1944 to the end of the war in Europe, Trump was the director of the BBRL.
In early 1943, two days after the death of Nikola Tesla, the Federal Bureau of Investigation ordered the Office of Alien Property Custodian to seize Tesla's belongings. Trump was called in to analyze the Tesla artifacts, which were being held in government custody. After a three-day investigation, Trump's report concluded that none of the artifacts would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands.
During the war, Trump also served in the Advisory Specialist Group on Radar, advising USAAF General Carl Spaatz on navigational radar, precision-bombing radar, and also defenses against the German radars found in their night-fighters and in their flak units. The systems included: Gee, Oboe, LORAN, H2X, MEW & SCR-584. Trump worked with all the most important British radar experts, including Sir Robert Watson-Watt, A.P. Rowe, and Bernard Lovell. At the end of the war, Trump also conducted debriefing interviews with Germany's main radar technicians. Trump received recognition for his war-work partnership from both the United States and the United Kingdom.

## Post-war career
### Medical research

Trump returned to MIT, where he was appointed director of MIT High Voltage Research Laboratory, a position he would hold until 1980. In 1952, he was appointed full professor.
Working with the Lahey Clinic's radiology practice in Burlington, Massachusetts, Trump continued to experiment with medical uses of electrostatic power. He invented a new cancer treatment known as rotational radiation therapy and later a technique for removing skin lesions. Trump was appointed chairman of the Lahey Clinic.

### High Voltage Engineering Corporation

Experimental physics grew rapidly after World War II, as did demand for particle research with linear accelerators. Trump, Van de Graaff, and British engineer Denis M. Robinson formed the High Voltage Engineering Corporation (HVEC) to commercialize high-power Van de Graaff generators for physics research laboratories. Located in Burlington, Massachusetts, HVE would become the second firm backed by the American Research and Development Corporation, a pioneering venture capital firm focused on creating new industries. Holding 13.3 percent stake in the firm, Trump served as its first chairman.
Federal grants enabled many physics labs to acquire HVEC's linear accelerators. In the next three decades, the firm manufactured at least 500 generators, known as "emperor tandem" models. The machines were prized for their precision, maintainability, and easy-to-upgrade design. As of 2025, at least two remain in service. HVEC's tandem generator at Brookhaven National Laboratory, has been substantially upgraded and run continuously since the 1970s.
By the late 1950s, HVEC had proved to be one of American Research and Development's most profitable investments. But while it remained profitable through the 1960s, its fortunes fell with as federal government ceased its funding for linear accelerators. HVEC sold its facilties and filed for bankruptcy protection in 1987. Trump, who held HVEC shares from formation until his death, made no large profit from the firms' success. Robinson, the company's chief executive, later said the land they acquired on Massachusetts Route 128 was sold for a value as high as many years of the company's profits.

### Wastewater experiments

Later, his research at MIT concentrated on treating wastewater. He researched using an electron beam from a high voltage accelerator as the deactivating agent in the treatment of municipal wastewater sludge. The High Voltage Research Laboratory developed a prototype system that was tested at Boston's Deer Island Waste Water Treatment Plant, and it was able to provide bacterial and viral disinfection via continuous on-line treatment.
Trump retired from his faculty appointment in 1973, but continued to teaching MIT students as a senior lecturer. Trump died in Cambridge, Massachusetts on February 21, 1985.

## Legacy

Trump received the 1983 National Medal of Science in Engineering Sciences for his "introduction of new methods for the beneficial application of ionizing radiation in medicine, industry and atomic physics." The White House hosted a ceremony for the medalists on February 27, 1985, six days after Trump's death. His oldest son, John Jr., accepted the medal from U.S. President Ronald Reagan. In a posthumous tribute, the National Academy of Engineering described John Trump as "a pioneer in the scientific, engineering and medical applications of high voltage machinery".
James Melcher, Trump's lab director, is quoted as saying: "John, over a period of three decades, would be approached by people of all sorts because he could make megavolt beams of ions and electrons – death rays... What did he do with it? Cancer research, sterilizing sludge out in Deer Island [a waste disposal facility], all sorts of wondrous things. He didn't touch the weapons stuff."
Trump's work with Boston hospitals made lasting contribution to cancer treatment. The radiation oncology building of the Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington, formerly the Lahey Clinic, is named for Trump. In 2024, one of his scientific collaborators endowed a fund at Lahey for diagnostic radiation named for Trump.
Trump held his professorship for 37 years, appointed at age 27 and retiring at MIT's then-mandatory retirement age of 65. He remained on MIT's faculty as a senior lecturer for another twelve years. Although Donald Trump has frequently claimed his uncle was the longest serving professor in the history of MIT, this is not accurate. Julius Stratton, who joined MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering eight years before Trump, retired in 1966 after 38 years as an MIT professor. Nevertheless, Trump's young appointment as professor allowed him to serve nearly the maximum possible tenure under MIT's retirement policies. Congress later prohibited mandatory faculty retirement, so professors now serve longer careers.

## Personal life

John G. Trump was a member of the Trump family. He married Elora Sauerbrun (1913–1983), and they had three children: John Gordon Trump (1938–2012) of Watertown, Massachusetts; Christine Philp (1942–2021) of New London, New Hampshire; and Karen Ingraham of Los Alamos, New Mexico; and six grandchildren.
The Trumps lived in Winchester, Massachusetts and were members of the Winchester Unitarian Society.

## Awards and honors

Trump received a number of awards including:
* 1947: The King's Medal for Service in the Cause of Freedom (KMS), given by George VI
* 1948: The President's Certificate of Merit, presented by Harry S. Truman
* 1960: The Lamme Medal, given by the American Institute of Electrical Engineers
* 1983: The National Medal of Science, presented by Ronald Reagan for Engineering Sciences

## Selected publications

Trump wrote approximately 80 peer-reviewed articles, published across journals in applied physics, nuclear science, radiology and medicine, scientific instruments, and environmental engineering.

### Dissertation

* Trump, John G. (1933). Vacuum electrostatic engineering (Sc.D thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Electrical Engineering. hdl:1721.1/32556.

### Journal articles

* — —, Merrill, F.H.; Safford, F.J. (December 1938). "Van de Graaff generator for general laboratory use". Review of Scientific Instruments. 9 (12): 398–403. doi:10.1063/1.1752376.
* – – with Andrias, James (1941). "High-voltage D-C Flashover of Solid Insulators in Compressed Nitrogen". Electrical Engineering. 60 (11): 986–989. doi:10.1109/EE.1941.6434541.
* – – (1947). "Electrostatic Sources of Electric Power". Electrical Engineering. 66 (6): 525–534. doi:10.1109/EE.1947.6443559.
* – – with van de Graaf, Robert J. (1947). "The Insulation of High Voltages in Vacuum". Journal of Applied Physics. 18: 327–332. doi:10.1063/1.1697654.
* Schumb, Walter C.; Trump, John G.; Priest, Grace L. (1949). "Effect of High Voltage Electrical Discharges on Sulfur Hexafluoride". Industrial & Engineering Chemistry. 41 (7): 1348–1349. doi:10.1021/ie50475a012.
* — —, Wright, K.A.; Evans, W.W.; Anson, J.H.; Hare, H.F.; Fromer, J.L.; Jacque, G.; Horne, K.W. (1953). "High Energy Electrons for the Treatment of Extensive Superficial Malignant Lesions". American Journal of Roentgenology. 69 (4): 623–629. PMID 13030918.
* Cloud, Robert W.; Beckman, Lars; Trump, John G. (1957). "Barium Absorption Pumps for High‐Vacuum Systems". Review of Scientific Instruments. 28: 889–892. doi:10.1063/1.1715756.
* Wright, Kenneth A; Trump, John G. (1962). "Back‐Scattering of Megavolt Electrons from Thick Targets". Journal of Applied Physics. 33: 687–690. doi:10.1063/1.1702488.
* – – (1967). "New Developments in High Voltage Technology". IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science. 14 (3): 113–121. doi:10.1109/TNS.1967.4324534.
* Diessner, Armin; Trump, John G. (1970). "Free Conducting Particles in a Coaxial Compressed-Gas-Insulated System". Journal of Applied Physics. 89 (8): 1970–1978. doi:10.1109/TPAS.1970.292781.
* — — (1978). "Disinfection of Municipal Sludge by High-Energy Electrons". Pollution Engineering. 10 (9): 49–51.
* — — Merrill, E.W.; Wright, K.A. (1984). "Disinfection of Sewage Wastewater and Sludge by Electron Treatment". Radiation Physics and Chemistry. 24 (1): 55–66. doi:10.1016/0146-5724(84)90007-4.

### Reports

* Five Years at the Radiation Laboratory (Report). Cambridge, MA: MIT Radiation Laboratory. 1946. OCLC 230425018.
* High Voltage Laboratory Progress Report (1965), Massachusetts Institute of Technology
* High Energy Electron Radiation of Wastewater Liquid Residuals : A Report to the National Science Foundation (PDF) (Report). Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1977. OCLC 30710419 – via IAEA.

### Interviews

* – – Taylor, Lauriston S. (1978). Vignettes of Early Radiation Workers. MIT – via YouTube.

### Essays

* Trump, J.G. (1960). "Supervoltage Radiation Therapy in the Next Decade". Surgical Clinics of North America. 40 (3): 839–848. doi:10.1016/S0039-6109(16)36109-6.
* —— (1971). "Energized Electrons Tackle Municipal Sludge". American Scientist. Vol. 69, no. 3. pp. 276–284. JSTOR 27850426.

### Manuscripts

* A War Diary, 1944-5 (1973)