The DOE National Laboratory System

Celebrating history and collective accomplishments of the Department of Energy national laboratory system

;xSTx;u;xETx;All pictures and verbiage in this timeline are adopted from national laboratory or DOE websites. References for the materials used are given below:;xSTx;/u;xETx;;xNLx;;xNLx;[National Laboratories](https://access.llnl.gov/images/timeline/Lab_Timeline_Writeups_final.pdf), [Scientific Breakthroughs](https://access.llnl.gov/images/timeline/Scientific_Breakthroughs_Writeups_final.pdf), [Trailblazing Technologies](https://access.llnl.gov/images/timeline/Trailblazing_Technologies_Writeups_final.pdf), and [World-Class Facilities](https://access.llnl.gov/images/timeline/World_Class_Facilities_Writeups_final.pdf);xNLx;;xSTx;br;xETx;;xNLx;This timeline was built as part of a thinkpiece for the [Oppenheimer Science and Energy Leadership Program](http://www.oselp.org).

1931-01-01 00:00:00

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Founded: 1931; National Laboratory Reflected in Lab Name: 1995

1943-01-01 00:00:00

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Founded: 1943; National Laboratory Reflected in Lab Name: 1979 -1981

1943-12-31 00:00:00

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Founded: 1943; Designated a National Laboratory (and Reflected in Lab Name): 1948

1946-01-01 00:00:00

Argonne National Laboratory

Founded: 1946; Designated a National Laboratory (and Reflected in Lab Name): 1946

1946-12-31 00:00:00

Revolutionized Medical Diagnostics

Year: 1946

1947-01-01 00:00:00

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Founded: 1947; Designated a National Laboratory (and Reflected in Lab Name): 1947

1947-12-31 00:00:00

Ames National Laboratory

Founded: 1947; National Laboratory Reflected in Lab Name: 2022

1949-01-01 00:00:00

Sandia National Laboratories

Founded: 1949; National Laboratory Reflected in Lab Name: 1979

1949-06-01 00:00:00

Discovered 22 New Elements

Years: 1937, 1944, 1940, 1940, 1941, 1944, 1944, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1952, 1955, 1957, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1974, 1998, 2003, 2000, 2010, 2006

1949-12-31 00:00:00

Idaho National Laboratory

Founded: 1949; Designated a National Laboratory (and Reflected in Lab Name): 2005

1950-01-01 00:00:00

Brookhaven Graphite Research Reactor (BGRR)

Start of Operations: 1950

1950-12-31 00:00:00

Identified Good and Bad Cholesterol

Year: 1950 (First Paper in Science)

1951-01-01 00:00:00

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

Founded: 1951; Current Lab Name Established: 1961

1951-06-01 00:00:00

Built First Nuclear Power Plant

Year: 1951

1952-01-01 00:00:00

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Founded: 1952; National Laboratory Reflected in Lab Name: 1979

1952-06-01 00:00:00

Shielded Cells Facility

Start of Operations: 1952 (First Cell Block)

1953-12-31 00:00:00

Pioneered Fusion Power Devices

Year: 1953

1954-06-01 00:00:00

Powered Submarines

Year: 1954

1954-12-31 00:00:00

Bevatron

Start of Operations: 1954

1956-01-01 00:00:00

Uncovered Messenger RNA

Year: 1956

1956-12-31 00:00:00

Experimental Boiling Water Reactor (EBWR)

Start of Operations: 1956

1958-01-01 00:00:00

Created First Animated Climate Model

Year: 1958

1959-01-01 00:00:00

Determined Role of Y Chromosome

Year:1959

1960-06-01 00:00:00

Safeguarded Nuclear Weapons

Year: 1960

1960-12-31 00:00:00

Alternating Gradient Synchotron (AGS)

Enter story info here

1961-12-31 00:00:00

Purified Vaccines

Year: 1961

1962-07-01 00:00:00

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Founded: 1962; National Laboratory Reflected in Lab Name: 2008

1963-01-01 00:00:00

Monitored Nuclear Tests from Space

Year: 1963

1964-12-31 00:00:00

Housed the World's Fastest Supercomputers

Year: 1964 (and many years thereafter)

1965-01-01 00:00:00

Made Cellular Biology Quantitative

Year: 1965

1965-06-01 00:00:00

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Founded: 1965; Designated a National Laboratory: ~1984 ; Reflected in Lab Name: 1995

1966-01-01 00:00:00

High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR)

Start of Operations: 1966

1966-12-31 00:00:00

Pioneered Reactor Safety Modeling

Year: 1966

1967-01-01 00:00:00

Discovered Gamma Ray Bursts

Year: 1967

1967-06-01 00:00:00

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

Founded: 1967; Designated a National Laboratory (and Reflected in Lab Name): 1967

1967-12-31 00:00:00

Advanced Test Reactor (ATR)

Start of Operations: 1967

1968-12-31 00:00:00

Levitated Trains with Magnets

Year: 1968 (patented)

1969-12-31 00:00:00

Scooped and Studied Moon Rocks

Year: 1969

1972-01-01 00:00:00

Main Ring

Start of Operations: 1972

1974-01-01 00:00:00

Invented CD/DVD Recording Process

Year: 1974

1974-06-01 00:00:00

Determined Building Blocks of Matter

Years: 1956, 1962, 1964, 1968, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1995, 2000

1974-12-31 00:00:00

Stanford Synchotron Radiation Light Source (SSRL)

Start of Operations: 1974

1975-12-31 00:00:00

Jump-Started the Shale Gas Revolution

Year: 1975

1977-01-01 00:00:00

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Founded: 1977; Designated a National Laboratory (and Reflected in Lab Name): 1991

1977-06-01 00:00:00

Powered NASA Spacecraft

Year: 1977

1978-01-01 00:00:00

Plutonium Facility 4 (PF-4)

Start of Operations: 1978

1979-01-01 00:00:00

Unmasked Cause of Dinosaur Extinction

Year: 1979

1980-12-31 00:00:00

Set Quantum Computing Framework

Year: 1980

1981-06-01 00:00:00

Concentrated the Power of the Sun

Year: 1981 (First Operating Solar Tower)

1982-01-01 00:00:00

Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR)

Start of Operations: 1982

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The DOE National Laboratory System

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    10th August 2035

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