• 1952: MURA, the Midwestern Universities Research Association, is formed with the goal of designing the next large U.S. accelerator facility.

• 1959: MURA considers the conceptual design of a several-hundred GeV machine, including Robert Wilson's idea of cascading accelerators.

• 1960: Wilson organizes a conference in Rochester, NY to discuss the experimental practicality of ultra-high energy machines.

• 1963: An accelerator research panel headed by Norman Ramsey recommends that:
  1. Berkeley construct a proton accelerator of about 200 GeV. This machine evolved as Fermilab's original Main Ring.

  2. Brookhaven construct storage rings and start a design study for a 600-1000 GeV machine.

  3. MURA construct a super high current accelerator

  4. Physicists be assigned to long-term projects to prepare detailed designs, but without commitments to build them. This recommendation effectively began the era of the "design study."

• 1963: In a white paper defining the concept of "The Truly National Laboratory," Leon Lederman recommends that user scientists should have access to the machine and to additional equipment, as well as to:
  1. Laboratory and office space on site

  2. A substantial support budget to supplement their own grants

  3. Strong representation on the scheduling committee

  4. An active users' committee

• 1965: A Berkeley design study with very large magnet apertures appears, with a large price tag; Robert. Wilson offers a much cheaper design.

• June 21, 1965: Universities Research Association (URA), formed earlier by National Academy of Sciences president Frederick Seitz and headed by Norman Ramsey, incorporates in to assume the task of building and operating the new "national" laboratory.

• December 16, 1966: After considering hundreds of proposals, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission selects Weston, Illinois, 30 miles west of Chicago, as the site for the new laboratory.

• March 1967: Robert Wilson is chosen as director of both accelerators and physics for the new laboratory.

• November 21, 1967: President Lyndon Johnson signs a bill authorizing the National Accelerator Laboratory.

• 1967-1968: Wilson organizes workshops in accelerator design, held in Oak Brook, Illinois. Among the proposals: a second ring of superconducting magnets in the same tunnel as the Main Ring.

• April 1968: Congress authorizes the first funding for the project.

• December 1, 1968: Linac ground-breaking.

• October 3, 1969: Main Ring ground-breaking.

• April 1969: AEC chairman Glenn T. Seaborg announces that the National Accelerator Laboratory will be renamed in honor of Enrico Fermi

• March 1, 1972: First 200 GeV beam passes through the Main Ring, making NAL the world's highest-energy particle accelerator laboratory.

• May 11, 1974: NAL is officially named Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.

• May-June 1977: Bottom quark discovered.

• October 19, 1978: Leon Lederman appointed new director.

• July 1983: First beam (512 GeV) in the Energy Doubler, soon to be known as the Tevatron.

• August 16, 1983: Groundbreaking for Antiproton Source.

• February 1984: First 800 GeV beam in Energy Doubler.

• October 13, 1985: First observation of proton-antiproton collisions by CDF collider detector at 1.6 TeV center-of-mass energy.

• October 21, 1986: First 900 GeV beam in Energy Doubler.

• April 20, 1989: John Peoples appointed director.

• February 14, 1992: DZero collider detector commissioned.

• September 25, 1992: Dedication of Lederman Science Education Center.

• March 22, 1993: Groundbreaking for Main Injector accelerator.

• September 4, 1993: New 400 MeV Linac commissioned.

• April 26, 1994: Announcement of first direct evidence for top quark.

• February 2, 1995: Tevatron sets world record for number of high-energy proton-antiproton particle collisions.

• March 3, 1995: Experimenters Announce Discovery of the Top Quark by CDF and D0 experiments

• September 1996 - Sep 1997: Fixed Target Run.

• February 1997: First beam through 8 GeV transfer beamline between the Booster and Main Injector. This is the first beam ever through a large beamline using permanent magnet technology.

• September 1997: Main Ring decommissioned

• September 1997: Beginning of shutdown for final installation of Main Injector and Antiproton Recycler, and upgrades of CDF and DZero detectors.

• September 13, 1997: Open House attracts 15,000 visitors from surrounding areas.

• October 1997: First funds for NuMI project allocated by DOE.

• March 1998: CDF announces discovery of Bc meson.

• February 24, 1999: KTeV announces first direct observation of CP violation in neutral kaons.

• March 5, 1999: Michael S. Witherell named Fermilab's fourth director.

• June 1, 1999: Main Injector accelerator dedicated.

• January 16, 2000: Founding director Robert Rathbun Wilson dies at age 85 in Ithaca, New York.

• July 21, 2000: DONUT announces the first direct observation of the tau neutrino, the final Standard Model fundamental particle to be observed.

• March 1, 2001: Fermilab begins Collider Run II of the Tevatron.

• September 12, 2002: MiniBooNE begins its search for the oscillation of muon neutrinos into electron neutrinos.

• March 4, 2004: The first pulses of neutrinos were sent from Fermilab, near Chicago, to the 6,000-ton MINOS detector in Minnesota. MINOS observes neutrino oscillation and mass.

• July 1, 2005: Pier Oddone becomes Fermilab's fifth director.

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