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General Electric's medical electron synchroton from 1956 looked like a toaster for a 100-foot giant
(hexbear.net)
https://broughttolight.ucsf.edu/2013/12/03/stones-synchrotron/
This compelling photograph (which, despite appearances, is not a scene from a sci-fi movie) depicts Dr. Robert Stone with the machine he created, the 70MeV electron synchroton. The synchrotron was a type of particle accelerator used to treat cancer patients with radiation from 1956 to 1964. Stone’s work contributed greatly to the safe clinical use of radiation.
This kinda nails something that I feel like a lot of speculative media get wrong. I remember watching terminator salvation (random anecdote) and being sort of annoyed that the terminator factory still had regular doors, control panels, all of the stuff needed for human workers. It should have been more like a “dark factory”, I guess I could hand wave it that they were reusing an older space or whatever, but basically the insistence on this alien/powerful thing that was still oriented around purely human scale design.
This object kinda breaks that, and suggests a vaster, non-human oriented purpose (even though, in this case it’s exactly the opposite). Basically just dig the aesthetic/scale. If you weren’t already terrified of your cancer diagnosis, this thing would certainly finish the job of asking you feel small and insignificant…