75 Milestones in 75 Years: Achievements at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

• Ernest O. Lawrence.

  Invention of the cyclotron - circular particle accelerator that won the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics for E.O. Lawrence
• Technetium-99 discovered – first artificial element created would become most widely used radioisotope in medicine
• 60-inch cyclotron built – gave birth to the Crocker Radiation Laboratory and nuclear medicine

• (L-R): Glenn Seaborg and Edwin McMillan.

  Neptunium and Plutonium discovered – first transuranic elements produced, won 1951 Nobel Prize in chemistry for Edwin McMillan and Glenn Seaborg
• Carbon-14 discovered – became an atomic clock for dating human artifacts
• 184-inch synchrocyclotron built – took the Rad Lab from UC Berkeley campus to current location in Berkeley Hills
• First proton linear accelerator invented - type of accelerator used in oncology clinics today for cancer treatments
• Berkelium discovered – radioactive rare earth metal named for the city of Berkeley
• Anger camera invented – Hal Anger develops the first gamma ray camera for imaging radioisotopes in tissue

• Donald Glaser.

  Liquid-hydrogen bubble chamber invented – won the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physics for its inventor, Donald Glaser
• Bevatron built – accelerator smashed the billion electron volt (GeV) barrier for protons
• Antiproton discovered – won 1959 Nobel Prize in Physics for Emilio Segrè and Owen Chamberlain
• Antineutron discovered – antimatter or mirror matter was extended to include the electrically neutral elementary particles
• Photosynthesis path of carbon identified – won the 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for Melvin Calvin
• Lawrencium discovered - radioactive rare earth metal named after Berkeley Lab founder Ernest O. Lawrence
• 88-Inch Cyclotron opens – still in use today for the study of ionizing radiation effects on space-based electronics
• Chemical laser invented – became one of the most versatile and widely used tools of science

• Luis Alvarez.

  Discovery of "resonance states" in elementary particles – won for Luis Alvarez the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physics
• Positron Emission Tomography breakthrough – world’s highest resolution PET scanner developed for diagnostics research
• j/psi particle discovered – a meson that contained the first evidence of the charm quark
• Seaborgium discovered – radioactive synthetic element named after Berkeley Lab Nobelist Glenn Seaborg
• Bevalac created – SuperHILAC and Bevatron accelerators are joined to accelerate heavy ions to relativistic energies
• Time Projection Chamber invented – TPCs remain the workhorse of high energy physics particle detectors
• Superconducting magnet breaks TESLA record – Lab becomes world leader in superconducting electromagnetic technology
• Positron-Electron Project built at Stanford - joint project with SLAC produces first matter-antimatter collider
• Earthquake studies begin at Parkfield – Lab becomes a leader in subsurface imaging technology
• Ten Meter Telescope conceived – proposed segmented reflecting mirror now used in the world’s largest optical telescopes
• SQUIDs invented – superconducting quantum interference devices for measuring ultra-tiny magnetic fields
• Smart Windows invented – embedded electrodes enable window glass to respond to changes in sunlight
• Dinosaur Die Out – iridium anomaly at the K-T boundary links dinosaur extinction to asteroid collision with Earth
• National Center for Electron Microscopy (NCEM) opens – home to the world’s most powerful electron microscopes, will produce first images of carbon atoms in a lattice
• DOE-2 program created – energy-saving computational program for modeling heating, lighting and air-conditioning costs
• Collective flow observed – first direct evidence that nuclear matter can be compressed to high temperature and density launches the search for a Quark Gluon Plasma

• Yuan T. Lee.

  Crossed molecular beam research – wins for Yuan T. Lee the 1988 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• NMR Magic Angle and Double-rotation invented – first of a series of new techniques that will extend nuclear magnetic resonance technology from solids to liquids and gases
• Good and bad cholesterol identified – two forms of lipoproteins found in cholesterol, high-density and low-density, the former good, the latter bad for heart disease
• Solid-state ballasts for fluorescent lamps – high-frequency electronic ballasts lead to the commercial development of compact fluorescent lamps
• MBE-4 inertital fusion energy experiments - linac accelerates and focuses parallel heavy ion beams to 1 MeV, provides an alternative to magnetic fusion energy
• Arctic soot discovered – Lab aetholometers reveal large concentrations of radiation-absorbing black particles at the North Pole, demonstrates pollution is global issue
• Random Vortex Method invented – mathematical model describes turbulent flow, the most common form of motion in the universe
• Next generation of aerogels created – Lab develops materials that are 96-percent air, results in first commercial U.S. aerogel firm
• Immortal human epithelial cell lines established – creation of cells that live indefinitely in culture opens new doors to cancer research
• Radon risk uncovered – radon gas seeping into homes through basements found to pose substantial radiation hazard in some parts of the country
• Center for Science and Engineering Education starts – CSEE begins on-going outreach programs to teachers and students in K-12, community college, undergraduate and graduate science education programs
• Extra Cellular Matrix theory proposed – ground-breaking theory links breast cancer development to breakdown in the micro-environment surrounding breast cells
• Human Genome Project begins – Lab named one of two DOE centers for mapping and sequencing human genome, a project that will be successfully completed in 2003
• Solid polymer batteries invented - novel class of polymer cathodes makes possible a new family of lightweight rechargeable batteries
• COBE satellite records seeds of early universe – Lab detectors aboard NASA satellite reveal fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background that gave rise to today’s galaxies
• Advanced Light Source opens – generates world’s brightest beams of soft x-rays and ultraviolet light for scientific research
• Heart disease gene identified – new evidence links atherosclerosis to a single dominant gene
• ultrahard carbon-nitride – new compound designed on basis of theoretical model is tougher than diamond
• First view of DNA double-helix – image of unaltered DNA gives scientists their first look at the double-helix
• Kesterson Reservoir threat uncovered – Lab discovery of selenium contamination of wildlife refuge by agriculture runoff exposes widespread ecological danger
• First femtosecond x-ray beam – pulse lengths of ALS beam sliced to barely a few hundred millionths of a billionth of a second
• Sulfur lamp invented – Lab scientists help produce  molecular emitter four times more energy efficient and 700 times brighter than conventional incandescent bulbs
• NERSC moves to Berkeley Lab – Lab becomes host of National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, flagship scientific computing facility for the Office of Science in the U.S. Department of Energy
• Cell senescence linked to cancer – bioassay enables scientists to identify senescent cells within living organisms and find link to cancer
• Gammasphere unveiled – world’s most sensitive detector of gamma radiation inspires production of Hollywood blockbuster film, The Hulk
• B factory conceived  – collaboration with SLAC to build first asymmetric particle collider, called B factory, which will go on to reveal first evidence of CP violation
• Sickle cell and Down syndrome transgenic mice – mouse models carrying human genes mimic sickle cell disease and link DYRK gene to mental retardation in Down syndrome
• TCP/IP flow control algorithms – algorithms developed at Lab substantially reduce network traffic congestion and are widely credited with saving the Internet from an otherwise inevitable congestion collapse
• Top quark discovered – Lab scientists part of two historic experiments at Tevatron, CDF and D-Zero, that find the last and most elusive of the six predicted quarks
• UV water purifier prevents cholera outbreaks – ultraviolet light quickly and cheaply disinfects water in remote locations
• 3-D computer model of Yucca Mountain – hydrogeologic model shows Nevada mountain to be a sound choice for nuclear waste repository
• Dark energy discovered – Supernova Cosmology Project reveals antigravity force called “dark energy” that is causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate
• First 3-D atomic-scale model of tubulin – image reveals structure of flexible protein that enables biological cells to undergo mitosis and other critical functions
• Front-end system for Spallation Neutron Source completed – Lab completes work on accelerator that generates negative hydrogen ions for SNS and sends to Oak Ridge, TN.
• First results from SNO show neutrino mass – first year of data from SNO reveals a tiny mass for ghostlike subatomic particles
• Hybrid solar cells developed – nanotechnology combined with plastic electronics yields photovoltaic devices that can be mass-produced in a multitude of different shapes
• Southern Ocean and Frio tests – Lab begins carbon sequestration studies off the Antarctic coast and in deep brine aquifers near Houston, Texas    
• Lilliputian lasers invented – UV light-emitting nanowire lasers measure 100 nanometers in diameter, or one-thousandth that of a human hair
• Berkeley Lamp invented – fluorescent table lamp reduces energy costs by 50-percent over conventional desk lamps
• Synthetic biology breakthroughs – first SB department at major institute creates synthetic genes for antimalaria and anti-AIDS superdrugs
• World’s smallest synthetic motor created - rotational motor fashioned out of carbon nanotubes and gold measures less than 300 nanometers in length
• Molecular Foundry opens – DOE national user facility dedicated to design, synthesis and characterization of nanoscale materials

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