Origins Argonne began in 1942 as the
Metallurgical Laboratory, part of the
Manhattan Project at the
University of Chicago. The Met Lab built
Chicago Pile-1, the world's first
nuclear reactor, under the stands of the University of Chicago sports stadium. In 1943, CP-1 was reconstructed as CP-2, in the
Argonne Forest, a forest preserve location outside Chicago. The laboratory facilities built here became known as
Site A. On July 1, 1946, Site A of the "Metallurgical Laboratory" was formally re-chartered as Argonne National Laboratory for "cooperative research in nucleonics." At the request of the
U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, it began developing nuclear reactors for the nation's peaceful nuclear energy program. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the laboratory moved west to a larger location in unincorporated
DuPage County and established a remote location in
Idaho, called "Argonne-West," to conduct further nuclear research.
Early research The lab's early efforts focused on developing designs and materials for producing electricity from nuclear reactions. The laboratory designed and built
Chicago Pile 3 (1944), the world's first
heavy-water moderated reactor, and the
Experimental Breeder Reactor I (Chicago Pile 4) in Idaho, which lit a string of four light bulbs with the world's first nuclear-generated electricity in 1951. The
BWR power station reactor, now the second most popular design worldwide, came from the
BORAX experiments. The knowledge gained from the Argonne experiments was the foundation for the designs of most of the commercial reactors used throughout the world for electric power generation, and inform the current evolving designs of liquid-metal reactors for future power stations. Meanwhile, the laboratory was also helping to design the reactor for the world's first
nuclear-powered submarine, the
U.S.S. Nautilus, which steamed for more than and provided a basis for the United States'
nuclear navy. Not all nuclear technology went into developing reactors, however. While designing a scanner for reactor fuel elements in 1957, Argonne physicist William Nelson Beck put his own arm inside the scanner and obtained one of the first
ultrasound images of the human body. Remote manipulators designed to handle radioactive materials laid the groundwork for more complex machines used to clean up contaminated areas, sealed laboratories or caves. In addition to nuclear work, the laboratory performed basic research in
physics and
chemistry. In 1955, Argonne chemists co-discovered the
elements einsteinium and
fermium, elements 99 and 100 in the
periodic table.
1960–1995 (right), Argonne's third director, stands next to the
Zero Gradient Synchrotron's
Cockcroft–Walton generator In 1962, Argonne chemists produced the first compound of the inert
noble gas xenon, opening up a new field of chemical bonding research. In 1963, they discovered the
hydrated electron. Argonne was chosen as the site of the 12.5 GeV
Zero Gradient Synchrotron, a
proton accelerator that opened in 1963. A
bubble chamber allowed scientists to track the motions of
subatomic particles as they zipped through the chamber; they later observed the
neutrino in a hydrogen bubble chamber for the first time. In 1964, the "Janus" reactor opened to study the effects of neutron radiation on biological life, providing research for guidelines on safe exposure levels for workers at power plants, laboratories and hospitals. Scientists at Argonne pioneered a technique to analyze the
Moon's surface using
alpha radiation, which launched aboard the
Surveyor 5 in 1967 and later analyzed lunar samples from the
Apollo 11 mission. In 1978, the
Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System (ATLAS) opened as the world's first superconducting accelerator for projectiles heavier than the electron. Nuclear engineering experiments during this time included the Experimental
Boiling Water Reactor, the forerunner of many modern nuclear plants, and
Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II), which was sodium-cooled, and included a fuel recycling facility. EBR-II was later modified to test other reactor designs, including a
fast-neutron reactor and, in 1982, the
Integral Fast Reactor concept—a revolutionary design that reprocessed its own fuel, reduced its atomic waste and withstood safety tests of the same failures that triggered the
Chernobyl and
Three Mile Island disasters. In 1994, however, the U.S. Congress
terminated funding for the bulk of Argonne's nuclear programs. Argonne moved to specialize in other areas, while capitalizing on its experience in physics, chemical sciences and
metallurgy. In 1987, the laboratory was the first to successfully demonstrate a pioneering technique called
plasma wakefield acceleration, which accelerates particles in much shorter distances than conventional accelerators. It also cultivated a strong
battery research program. Following a major push by then-director Alan Schriesheim, the laboratory was chosen as the site of the
Advanced Photon Source, a major X-ray facility which was completed in 1995 and produced the brightest X-rays in the world at the time of its construction.
Since 1995 The laboratory continued to develop as a center for energy research, as well as a site for scientific facilities too large to be hosted at universities. In the early 2000s, the
Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) was founded and hosted multiple
supercomputers, several of which ranked among the top 10 most powerful in the world at the time of their construction. The laboratory also built the Center for Nanoscale Materials for conducting materials research at the atomic level; and greatly expanded its battery research and quantum technology programs.
Chicago Tribune reported in March 2019 that the laboratory was constructing the world's most powerful supercomputer. Costing $500 million, it will have the processing power of 1 quintillion
FLOPS. Applications will include the analysis of stars and improvements in the power grid. ==Initiatives==