Lawrence Berkeley Labs
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| Motto | Bringing science solutions to the world |
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| Established | August 26, 1931 (87 years ago) |
| Research type | scientific research and energy technologies |
| Budget | $803 million (2016) |
| Director | Michael Witherell |
| Staff | 3,304 |
| Students | 800 |
| Location | Berkeley, California, United States |
| Campus | 200 acres (81 ha) |
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Operating agency
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University of California |
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| Website | lbl.gov |
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), commonly referred to as Berkeley Lab, is a United States national laboratory located in the Berkeley Hills near Berkeley, California that conducts scientific research on behalf of the United States Department of Energy (DOE). It is managed and operated by the University of California. The laboratory overlooks the University of California, Berkeley's main campus.
The laboratory was founded in August 26, 1931 by Ernest Lawrence as the Radiation Laboratory of the University of California, Berkeley associated with the Physics Department. It centered physics research around his new instrument, the cyclotron, a type of particle accelerator for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939.
Throughout the 1930s, Lawrence pushed to create larger and larger machines for physics research, courting private philanthropists for funding. He was the first to develop a large team to build big projects to make discoveries in basic research. Eventually these machines grew too large to be held on the university grounds, and in 1940 the lab moved to its current site atop the hill above campus.
Part of the team put together during this period includes two other young scientists who went on to establish large laboratories; J. Robert Oppenheimer founded Los Alamos Laboratory, and Robert Wilson founded Fermilab.
Leslie Groves visited Lawrence's Radiation Laboratory in late 1942 as he was organizing the Manhattan Project, meeting J. Robert Oppenheimer for the first time. Oppenheimer was tasked with organizing the nuclear bomb development effort and founded today's Los Alamos National Laboratory to help keep the work secret.
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