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27-605: The Center for Nanoscale Materials at Argonne National Laboratory is part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Basic Energy Science Nanoscale Science Research Center program. The CNM serves as a user-based center, providing tools and infrastructure for nanoscience and nanotechnology research. The CNM's mission includes supporting basic research and the development of advanced instrumentation that helps generate new scientific insights and create new materials with novel properties. With its centralized facilities, controlled environments, technical support, and scientific staff,

54-415: A key role. APS's hard X-rays , harnessed in a nanoprobe beamline , provide unprecedented capabilities to characterize extremely small structures. Argonne's long-standing culture of outreach to, and inclusion of, the academic and industrial communities help support regional and national goals and strategic interests. The CNM welcomes outside users, both as independent investigators and as collaborators, from

81-616: A remote location in Idaho , called "Argonne-West," to conduct further nuclear 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

108-533: 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. 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

135-510: A wide range of scientific fields. This accessibility ensures a cross-disciplinary approach to nano-related research that helps ideas and activities to cross-pollinate, mature, and evolve over time into the pathways of scientific investigation and discovery that will help shape the future of our society. This article about an organization or institute connected with physics is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Argonne National Laboratory Argonne National Laboratory

162-808: Is a federally funded research and development center in Lemont , Illinois , United States. Founded in 1946, the laboratory is owned by the United States Department of Energy and administered by UChicago Argonne LLC of the University of Chicago . The facility is the largest national laboratory in the Midwest . Argonne had its beginnings in the Metallurgical Laboratory of the University of Chicago , formed in part to carry out Enrico Fermi 's work on nuclear reactors for

189-669: Is a region of commerce and industry located along Interstate 88 in the Chicago metropolitan area , primarily in Cook , DuPage , Kane , and DeKalb Counties . The corridor is home to the headquarters or regional centers for many Fortune 1000 companies (including many specializing in research, development, logistics, and technology), several office and industrial parks, colleges and universities, research and scientific institutions, medical centers, government centers, and abundant shopping, dining, lodging, and entertainment amenities. In addition to

216-592: The Idaho National Laboratory . Argonne is a part of the expanding Illinois Technology and Research Corridor . Fermilab , which is another USDoE National Laboratory , is located approximately 20 miles away. Argonne has five areas of focus, as stated by the laboratory in 2022, including scientific discovery in physical and life sciences; energy and climate research; global security advances to protect society; operating research facilities that support thousands of scientists and engineers from around

243-593: The Manhattan Project during World War II . After the war, it was designated as the first national laboratory in the United States on July 1, 1946. In its first decades, the laboratory was a hub for peaceful use of nuclear physics ; nearly all operating commercial nuclear power plants around the world have roots in Argonne research. More than 1,000 scientists conduct research at the laboratory, in

270-749: 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

297-446: The periodic table . 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

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324-403: 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

351-582: The Amoco Research Center (now BP ) in 1969. In Batavia, Fermilab was established as the National Accelerator Laboratory in 1967, with its particle accelerator becoming operational in 1972. The Corridor Group was formed in 1982, with representation by over 80 high technology companies, national labs, associated industries, and colleges and universities. Cities and villages located partially or wholly within

378-530: The CNM enables researchers to excel and significantly extend their reach. CNM researchers work at the leading edge of science and technology to develop capabilities and knowledge that complement those of industry. The challenges the CNM faces involve fabricating and exploring novel nanoscale materials and employing unique synthesis and characterization methods to control and tailor nanoscale phenomena. The unique capabilities of Argonne's Advanced Photon Source (APS) play

405-845: The I-90 Golden Corridor , the I-94 Lakeshore Corridor , and the I-55 Industrial Corridor, the Illinois Technology and Research Corridor is one of the principal economic centers in suburban Chicago. The first companies that formed the Illinois Technology and Research Corridor began locating in Naperville in the 1960s. In 1962, Northern Illinois Gas (now Nicor ) moved its research and administrative facilities to Naperville in 1962, followed by Bell Laboratories (1964), and

432-448: 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

459-487: 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

486-613: The course of its history, 13 individuals have served as Argonne Director: Significant portions of the 1996 chase film Chain Reaction were shot in the Zero Gradient Synchrotron ring room and the former Continuous Wave Deuterium Demonstrator laboratory. 41°42′33″N 87°58′55″W  /  41.709166°N 87.981992°W  / 41.709166; -87.981992 Illinois Technology and Research Corridor The Illinois Technology and Research Corridor

513-653: The early 2000s, the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility 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

540-528: The fields of energy storage and renewable energy ; fundamental research in physics , chemistry , and materials science ; environmental sustainability ; supercomputing ; and national security . Argonne formerly ran a smaller facility called Argonne National Laboratory-West (or simply Argonne-West) in Idaho next to the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. In 2005, the two Idaho-based laboratories merged to become

567-452: 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 513,550 nautical miles (951,090 km) 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

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594-569: 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. Argonne builds and maintains scientific facilities that would be too expensive for a single company or university to construct and operate. These facilities are used by scientists from Argonne, private industry, academia, other national laboratories and international scientific organizations. Argonne welcomes all members of

621-518: The public age 16 or older to take guided tours of the scientific and engineering facilities and grounds. For children under 16, Argonne offers hands-on learning activities suitable for K–12 field trips. The laboratory also hosts educational science and engineering outreach for schools in the surrounding area. Argonne scientists and engineers take part in the training of nearly 1,000 college graduate students and post-doctoral researchers every year as part of their research and development activities. Over

648-465: 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

675-506: 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,

702-653: The world; and developing the scientific and technological workforce. 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

729-540: 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,

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