Laboratory Settlers

Robert Rathbun Wilson was appointed Director of the National Accelerator Laboratory. He chose Edwin L. Goldwasser as his Deputy Director. Following initial planning meetings at Argonne National Laboratory and O'Hare International Airport, the first offices opened in the Executive Office Plaza in Oak Brook on June 15, 1967, while the 6,800 acre site was acquired by the state of Illinois. AEC officials and DUSAF, the architectural-engineering design firm, sent teams to work with Wilson on the "footprint." Physicists from around the world who would use "the machine" for their research experiments met at Argonne in April, 1967 for the first Users Meeting. The next year they came to the Kuhn Barn. On April 19, 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the bill authorizing construction of the 200 GeV Accelerator. The Human Rights Statement was written in that turbulent year of 1968.

Robert R. Wilson, veteran of the Manhattan Project and creator of NAL

AEC friend of NAL, Andy Mravca, facilitated technical procurements and contributed to a rapid schedule.

Robert R. Wilson, Director and Edwin L. Goldwasser, Deputy Director in 1967 at Oakbrook.

DUSAF - designers and developers of the Weston site.

Don Young and Phil Livdahl, early NAL settlers.

Employees represent NAL in the 4th of July parade, 1969.

The TAT Program helped train minority students for technical jobs at NAL.

Robert R. Wilson and AEC representative K.C. Brooks.

Mrs. Jane S. Wilson, at home on the frontier.

Some of the early NAL corps, 1969.

Tom Collins, accelerator expert and NAL pioneer.

policy statement

"It will be the policy of the National Accelerator Laboratory to seek the achievements of its scientific goals within a framework of equal opportunity and of a deep dedication to the fundamental tenets of human rights and dignity."

Robert Rathbun Wilson, Director,
and Edwin L. Goldwasser, Deputy Director.

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The Oak Brook executive Office Plaza, home of NAL in 1967 and 1968.

Hal Landers works on a Main Ring prototype.

Wilson addresses the staff at the All Employee Meetings in the Village, 1969

The Oak Brook executive Office Plaza, home of NAL in 1967 and 1968.

Cover of the January 1968 Design Report detailing for Congress how the 200 GeV accelerator would work. A plain white cover version was submitted to the Atomic Energy Commission and the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy. This original version, conceived by Wilson, using Leonardo da Vinci's drawing, was designed by Angela Gonzales and subsequently distributed to laboratory staff and users.
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Users at work and at play. Above: R.R. Wilson speaks at the second annual Users Meeting in 1968. Below: (from left) Alvin Tollestrup, Leon Lederman, and Robert Wilson enjoy the Users' Meeting Bar-B-Que. Back to text