A synchrotron is a type of particle accelerator where particles travel around many times in a circle. It uses a magnetic field to turn the particles in the circle and an electric field to speed up the particles. The components are carefully matched up with the travelling particle beam so that the circle stays the same size while the particles go faster. Mark Oliphant invented the proton synchrotron. Vladimir Veksler was the first to publish the idea. Edwin McMillan constructed the first electron synchrotron.