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Berkeley Lab: The Next 90

Photo Gallery

Travel through time to learn more about the scientific milestones, key players, important events, and everyday activities that tell the story of Berkeley Lab.

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1930s

Where it all started…the Radiation Laboratory on the UC Berkeley campus, built in 1931
Ernest Lawrence at the control table of the 27-inch cyclotron in 1933
Ernest Lawrence examines the vacuum chamber of the 37.5 inch cyclotron in 1935
Ernest Lawrence at the controls of the 60-inch cyclotron in 1939
This Lab blackboard announces Ernest Lawrence’s Nobel Prize in in Physics in 1939
Lawrence begins the ‘Take Your Kids to Work Day’ tradition with two of his six children in 1939
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1940s

The now-iconic domed roof of the 184-inch cyclotron is installed in 1941
Providing a sense of scale for the lower core of 184-inch cyclotron in 1941
Ernest Lawrence & his 1941 Packard pose with the 184-inch cyclotron in 1942
Taping magnet coils for the 184-inch cyclotron in 1943
A Coca Cola truck makes a delivery to the 184-inch cyclotron in 1943
This 1946 aerial view shows the 184-inch cyclotron in the hills above the UC Berkeley campus
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1950s

Constructing the foundation of the Bevatron’s magnet core in 1950
Building 8 catches fire in the spring of 1950
Glenn Seaborg & Edwin McMillan after winning the 1951 Nobel Prize
Scanning film of Bubble Chamber photographs in 1957
A chemistry lab photographed in 1957
The last run of the Lab’s UNIVAC computer, forerunner of today’s digital computers, was performed in 1959
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1960s

Members of the X-ray Diffraction Group use a camera to help detect the basic structure of crystals in 1960
President John F. Kennedy visits Berkeley Lab in 1962
How employees navigated the hills of Berkeley Lab in 1963
Princess Margaret (far right) visits the Lab in 1965
Berkeley Lab Nobel Laureates in front of the old magnet from the 37-inch cyclotron in 1969
Members of the Heavy Isotope Group conduct experiments on element 104 in 1969
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1970s

This researcher used nuclear magnetic resonance techniques and “brute-force” polarization to study silver nuclei in 1970
The Bevatron Heavy-Ions Beam group studies light flashes in nitrogen beams in 1971
Field studies in Nevada are conducted by Berkeley Lab geothermal researchers in 1974
Members of the High Altitude Particle Astronomy group in 1974
Berkeley Lab’s annual Runaround race begins in 1977
Nuclear physicists conducting 299H Pi Sphere experiments in 1979
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1980s

An energy researcher using a state-of-the-art computer terminal circa 1983
President Ronald Reagan presents a plaque to Glenn Seaborg at the White House in 1984
A group of veteran scientists gather under the 184-Inch Cyclotron in 1988, prior to its decommissioning
A happy material scientist in his lab in 1988
The walls of the 184-inch building were removed in 1989 as part of its conversion to the Advanced Light Source
An electrician makes sure all is running smoothly in Building 76 in 1989
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1990s

Jay Marx led the construction of the Advanced Light Source and posed in front of the facility in 1990
Celebrating the 76th birthday of Albert Ghiorso (far left) in Building 71 in 1991
Darleane Hoffman and Diana Lee with the MG Heavy Element Counting System in 1994
Glenn Seaborg & Lab Director Charles Shank cut the ribbon for the new Bldg. 50 lobby in 1996
Testing Boron Neutron Capture Therapy, a treatment for cancer, at the 88-inch cyclotron in 1998
Sheep graze the Lab’s hillsides near Bldg. 76 in 1998 to help reduce the risk of wildfire
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2000s

Location filming of The Incredible Hulk movie in 2001
Budding scientists at the 2001 Open House
Cosmologist Saul Perlmutter and actor Alan Alda at a Scientific American Frontiers video shoot in 2003
Carbon testing in a Oklahoma wheat field in 2003
A Lab rock band performs at the 2004 Runaround race
Berkeley Lab scientists conduct neutrino research at the South Pole in 2004
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2010s

Researchers at the Molecular Foundry in 2012
Researchers use ionic liquids to pre-treat mixed blends of different biofuel feedstocks in 2013
Family Science Night at Washington Elementary School in 2014
Assembling the focal plane for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) in 2017
Mary Maxon, Associate Laboratory Director for Biosciences, at the Joint BioEnergy Institute in 2018
Construction of the new Integrative Genomics Building in 2019
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2020

Though a shelter-in-place order temporarily closed Berkeley Lab, some scientists gradually returned to conduct research
Rigorous protocols were put into place to ensure the safety of employees…even Lawrence himself donned protection
With less people around, local wildlife roamed freely around the Berkeley Lab campus
Additional challenges were added in the fall when smoke from nearby wildfires created hazardous air quality
Despite the hurdles, limited work safely continued, such as this building-efficiency research at FLEXLAB
The newly installed EcoPOD will help researchers better understand plant-soil-microbe-atmosphere interactions
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