Historical News Features

News releases about Argonne history

Early Argonne reactor lit the way for worldwide nuclear industry

ARGONNE, Ill. (Dec. 20, 1996) -- Forty-five years ago today, a nuclear reactor produced useful electricity for the first time. It was barely enough to power a simple string of four 100-watt light bulbs, but the 16 scientists and engineers -- all staff members of Argonne National Laboratory, which designed and built the reactor -- recorded their historic achievement by chalking their names on the wall beside the generator. More...

Argonne's Nobel laureate is role model for women scientists

ARGONNE, Ill. (Dec. 13, 1996) -- While working at Argonne National Laboratory in 1948, physicist Maria Goeppert Mayer developed the explanation of how neutrons and protons within atomic nuclei are structured. Called the "nucelar shell model," her work explains why the nuclei of some atoms are more stable than others and why some elements have many different atomic forms, called "isotopes," while others do not. For this work, she shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in physics. More...

Mysterious little particle has long Argonne history

ARGONNE, Ill. (Nov. 13, 1996) -- How small is "small"? A particle that barely exists, as humans measure existence, is so remarkably small that trillions pass through our bodies every second with no effect. That particle is the neutrino, and its history has long been intertwined with that of Argonne National Laboratory. More...

Research vessel provided clues to Great Lakes' pollution

ARGONNE, Ill. (Oct. 25, 1996) -- An important chapter in Argonne National Laboratory's long history of environmental research was opened on Oct. 25, 1978, with the commissioning of the research vessel "Ekos." More...

International School focused on peaceful uses of nuclear energy

ARGONNE, Ill. (Oct. 12, 1996) -- In December of 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in an effort to promote international scientific cooperation, proposed an "Atoms for Peace" program to the United Nations General Assembly. He offered other nations help from the United States in harnessing the power of nuclear energy for peaceful uses. More...

Argonne researchers help reclaim abandoned mine site

ARGONNE, Ill. (Sept. 21, 1996) -- "This site is an ugly waste," Illinois Governor Dan Walker said 20 years ago today as he surveyed a barren wasteland of coal refuse in downstate Macoupin County. "But it will be restored and put to good use," he continued. And with that proclamation, Walker and other state and county officials broke ground for an Argonne-National-Laboratory-supervised reclamation project to turn a 53-year-old refuse heap into a recreation area and wildlife refuge. More...

Argonne-developed alpha source probed lunar surface

ARGONNE, Ill. (Sept. 11, 1996) -- More than 30 years ago, as the "space race" was nearing its climax, materials and techniques developed at Argonne National Laboratory helped scientists analyze for the first time in history the surface of another world. More...

Argonne builds a tradition of world-class superconducting magnets

ARGONNE, Ill -- (Aug. 31, 1996) -- Fifteen years ago on this date, the largest, most powerful superconducting dipole magnet ever built set a world record that still stands today. More...

Research helps safeguard nuclear workers worldwide

ARGONNE, ILL. (Aug. 3, 1996) -- A small facility at Argonne National Laboratory played a big role in safeguarding people around the world who work with radioactive materials at nuclear power plants, hospitals and laboratories. More...

Argonne's superconductor research continues to lead

ARGONNE, Ill. (July 28, 1996) -- Nine years ago today, President Ronald Reagan, attending a scientific conference in the nation's capitol, received an up-close look at how high-temperature superconductors work from Alan Schriesheim, who was then director and chief executive officer of Argonne National Laboratory. More...

Pioneering the automated growth of human cancer cells

ARGONNE, Ill. (July 10, 1996) -- In 1970, much of America read the top- selling book "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, but Were Afraid to Ask." But scientists at Argonne National Laboratory were taking a different approach toward vexing questions of human biology: They were growing human cancer cells. More...

ATLAS accelerator probes secrets of the atom

ARGONNE, Ill. (June 26, 1996) -- On this date 15 years ago, Argonne National Laboratory formally commissioned a powerful new research tool that enables scientists to probe the structure of the atomic nucleus and explore the interior of an evolving star. Over the years, the Argonne Tandem Linear Accelerator System has been one of Argonne's most successful scientific facilities, hosting thousands of scientists from across the nation and around the world. More...

Argonne's super light source casts a long shadow

ARGONNE, Ill. (June 4, 1996) -- When a group of scientists and politicians gathered at Argonne National Laboratory on June 4, 1990, to break ground for a world-class, 7-billion electron-volt X-ray source, the event cast a shadow both forward and backward in time. More...

Patent on world's first reactor was a long time coming

ARGONNE, Ill. (May 18, 1996) -- The invention of the first nuclear reactor has been compared to the discoveries of fire and the wheel in its impact on human history. But getting a patent on it turned out to be nearly as difficult as the breakthrough itself. More...

Built from 'leftovers,' Argonne's IPNS celebrates 15 years of success

ARGONNE, Ill. (May 5, 1996) --The runaway success of the Intense Pulsed Neutron Source, which marks its 15th year of operation on May 5, is one of Argonne National Laboratory's true "rags-to-riches" stories. More...

Science students hone their skills in Argonne's solar car competition

ARGONNE, Ill. (April 27, 1996) -- "Silver Streak" sailed past its 17 competitors to win the first-ever Junior Solar Sprint on a sunny Saturday six years ago. On April 27, 1990, Argonne National Laboratory held its inaugural solar-powered model car competition for teams from Chicago-area seventh and eighth grade science classes. Since then the competition has gone national: In 1995, 25,000 Junior Solar Sprint kits were distributed, and 53 regional competitions were held in 36 states. More...

Atomic-rain victims pass tests in Argonne 'iron room'

ARGONNE, Ill. (April 7, 1996) -- The date is April 7, 1957, a chilly Sunday in Chicago. Seven visitors from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean have come to Chicago so the radioactivity in their bodies can be measured in Argonne National Laboratory's "iron room." More...

Chicago Pile reactors create enduring research legacy

ARGONNE, Ill. (March 20, 1996) -- Next September 21, Argonne National Laboratory will open its gates to 20,000-plus visitors to show off its scientific and educational programs. But the laboratory's first open house, held March 20, 1954, brought some 2,300 people -- mostly employees and their families -- to the laboratory to tour Chicago Pile 5 (CP-5), the nation's newest nuclear reactor. More...

Argonne reforestation project changes DuPage landscape

ARGONNE, Ill. (March 16, 1996) -- People who grew up on the wide-open farmlands of southwestern DuPage County during the 1930s and `40s would find little today to remind them of their childhood. More...

Computers make molecules easy to "see"

ARGONNE, Ill. (Feb. 25,1996) -- On this date 30 years ago, Science magazine reported what was at the time an amazing advance in computer research -- Argonne National Laboratory computers had been programmed to draw a representation of the electron structure and orbits of molecules containing two atoms. More...

Argonne passes a reporter's security test

ARGONNE, Ill. (Feb. 6, 1996) -- The time is February 1951. The Cold War with Russia is heating up. China is lost to Communism. Atomic spies are being rounded up by the score. And a young newshawk named Paul Harvey has just been caught scaling the security fence at the Atomic Energy Commission's Argonne National Laboratory. More...

The Nautilus submarine reactor

ARGONNE, Ill. (Jan. 21, 1996) -- Forty-two years ago, on Jan. 21, 1954, the culmination of one of Argonne National Laboratory's most important early research projects slid down a ramp into the icy waters off Groton, Conn. -- the U.S.S. Nautilus, the world's first atomic-powered submarine. Today, descendants of the revolutionary nuclear reactor aboard the Nautilus provide electricity to homes and businesses around the world. More...

The civilians take charge of nuclear energy

ARGONNE, Ill. (Jan. 1, 1996) -- Argonne National Laboratory celebrates its 50th anniversary in 1996, but it was actually a key presidential decision 49 New Years Eves ago that shaped the future of Argonne and the entire national laboratory system. More...