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Fermi-lab
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The Beginning
Fermilab started in the mid-1960s. The idea then was to create a laboratory where physicists could perform experiments at energies higher than were possible in existing laboratories. -
The Beginning (1)
in 1965 the state of Illinois started to inquire about Fermilab being built in Illinois. -
The Big Win
A competition was planned among the states interested in the project and in 1966, Illinois won. -
Top Gun
Robert R. Wilson was the physicist who designed accelerators at Cornell University became the director of the NAL. He designed and built the accelerator complex called the Main Ring. -
Buffalo
In 1969 Wilson was contacted about the donation of some buffalo to lend an authentic frontier look to the site, as well as to keep the grass short.The buffalo herd has been one of the most popular sights to see at the Lab. -
Tree Huger Act
In 1971 a different scientific experiment was started to restore and preserve the prairie plants of Illinois on the Lab site. -
The Main Ring
First the LINAC, a linear accelerator, was built, then the Booster Ring and finally, the Main Ring, a 4-mile ring of magnets enclosed by a concrete tunnel, thirty feet underground. This effort took 5 years, and in 1972 the design energy of 200 BeV (Billion electron volts) protons circulating around the Main Ring was achieved. -
B/C of Hitler
In 1974, after the Central Laboratory Building was constructed, the Lab’s name was changed from the NAL (National Accelerator laboratory) to Fermi National Accelerator laboratory. Named after an Italian physicist Enrico Fermi, who came to the US to escape Nazi Europe. -
Poor Pitiful Pearl
Robbert Wilson had stepped down when Washington DC would not give the Lab the budget it needed in 1978 -
Tron
In 1979 the Lab received a boost in its budget to build the Tevatron. -
New Guy
Leon Lederman became the director of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. -
Tron 2
The Tevatron is a superconducting ring of magnets called the Energy Doubler was studied, tested, developed, and installed underneath the Main Ring magnets in the original tunnel by 1983 -
Not The One From The Show
In 1988, Lederman was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics, the first such recognition for the Lab. -
Bottom Quark
In 1995, scientists discovered the bottom quark by studying tracks of particles. -
Project X
Project X, a proposed half-mile-long Fermilab accelerator, would be the most intense and flexible proton source in the world. -
Commence Project X
Operation is scheduled to start in 2020, but can start in 2015
