1940-49 || 1950-59 || 1960-69 || 1970-79 || 1980-89 || 1990-99 || 2000-present

Argonne Highlights: 1990-1999

1990

February 26 – State-of-the-Laboratory address by Argonne Director Alan Schriesheim.

April 27 – The first Junior Solar Sprint is held at Argonne-East.

June 4 – Ground is broken for the Advanced Photon Source (APS), a half-billion dollar accelerator to produce X-rays for research in many scientific fields.

July 19 – The Intense Pulsed Neutron Source (IPNS) produces its 3 billionth neutron pulse.

September 17 – The U.S. Department of Energy's tiger team arrives at Argonne-East to assess the laboratory's environment, safety and health policies, practices and procedures.

October 1 – Argonne biologist Maryka Bhattacharyya is appointed the laboratory's first Women in Science Initiator.

November 2 – The first Argonne Symposium for Undergraduates in Science, Engineering and Mathematics is held Nov. 2-3.

1991

January 23 – Argonne's first CRADA, a joint research agreement with Baxter Healthcare International, is executed.

February 8 – State-of-the-Laboratory address by Argonne Director Alan Schriesheim.

April 25 – The first concrete poured to start construction of the APS Experiment Hall.

April 25 – U.S. Secretary of Energy James Watkins approves Argonne's tiger team assessment corrective action plan.

October 11 – Ground is broken for the Argonne Child Development Center.

November 20 – The 2,000th experiment performed at the IPNS.

1992

March 12 – State-of-the-Laboratory address by Argonne Director Alan Schriesheim.

April 23 – The Janus reactor shuts down for last time. It achieved criticality August 3, 1964, as the world's first reactor designed and built exclusively for biological research.

1993

April 13 – State-of-the-Laboratory address by Argonne Director Alan Schriesheim.

September 17 – Argonne and Commonwealth Research Corp. announce the world's most efficient bearing, a superconducting magnetic bearing.

October 20 – A 128-node IBM SP1 parallel computer system was dedicated in the Mathematics and Computer Science Division.

October 20 – Argonne scientists announce a world's record for "giant magnetoresistance."

December 12 – The IPNS produces its 4 billionth neutron pulse.

1994

January 5 – Argonne and Intermagnetics General announce a world record for the strongest magnetic field ever generated by high-temperature superconductors.

January 26 – Illinois Governor Jim Edgar officially sends the first pulse of electrons through the APS linear accelerator.

June 23 – State-of-the-Laboratory address by Argonne Director Alan Schriesheim.

July 5 – Argonne's virtual reality CAVE first becomes functional.

September 30 – Experimental Breeder Reactor Two is officially shut down.

October 29 – The 3,000th experiment is performed at the IPNS.

November 1 – Paula Scalingi is named director of the Decision and Information Sciences Division, the first female director of an Argonne research division.

1995

March 26 – The first X-ray beam is produced at the APS storage ring.

July 11 – State-of-the-Laboratory address by Argonne Director Alan Schriesheim.

August 9 – The APS produces its first light from an insertion device.

October 12 – Argonne Director Alan Schriesheim announces his retirement, effective July 1, 1996.

1996

January 22 – The Argonne News reports that Argonne ranks in the top 10 materials science research facilities in terms of "high-impact" papers on the subject, according to Science Watch newsletter.

January 31 – The crew of the 20th Century Fox motion picture "Chain Reaction" arrives at Argonne's Illinois site to begin "dressing" the set. Several scenes in the action picture will be shot at Argonne. "Chain Reaction", directed by Andrew Davis and starring Keanu Reeves and Morgan Freeman, is scheduled for summer 1996 release.

February 12 – The cast of 20th Century Fox action movie "Chain Reaction" arrives and filming begins at Argonne's Illinois site. Many Argonne employees find work as movie extras.

February 28 – "The New Explorers" television series broadcasts "Atoms for Peace," a one-hour history of nuclear energy in America, on the national PBS network. The show focuses on Argonne's efforts to develop the Integral Fast Reactor, an inherently safe nuclear power plant killed by Congress and the Clinton Administration.

April 8 – The Argonne News announces the creation of the International Nuclear Safety Center at Argonne. The center's goal is to work with similar centers in other nations to help maintain technical excellence in the design of nuclear reactors, promote development of nuclear-safety-related technologies, and promote open exchange of safety information.

April 19 – Maine South High School wins Argonne's first Rube Goldberg machine contest. Twelve Chicago-area high schools competed to build and run the zaniest machine to plant a seed in soil in 20 or more steps.

May 1 – The Advanced Photon Source is officially dedicated. Speakers included Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary, University of Chicago President Hugo Sonnenschein, Argonne Director Alan Schriesheim and Associate Laboratory Director for the APS David Moncton.

June 7 – The Fuel Conditioning Facility at Argonne-West began hot operations at 7:05 a.m. Idaho time with the chopping of used fuel from Experimental Breeder Reactor Two.

June 11 – State-of-the-Laboratory address by Argonne Director Alan Schriesheim.

June 12 – The Structural Biology Center is commissioned at the Advanced Photon Source as a national center for solving the structure of proteins through macromolecular crystallography.

June 21 – At 11:01 a.m. Idaho time, the electrorefiner at Argonne-West's Fuel Conditioning Facility began operations when Argonne Director Alan Schriesheim pressed a touch-sensitive computer screen to insert chopped EBR-II fuel.

June 27 – University of Chicago President Hugo F. Sonnenschein announces the selection of Dean E. Eastman as Argonne's eighth director, effective July 15.

July 15 – Dean E. Eastman begins as Argonne's eighth director.

July 15-18 – Argonne-West is evacuated twice in four days when brush fires fueled by high winds encircled the site.

July 17-18 – The "Flood of'96" results when 11.57 inches of rain fall on Argonne-East in 24 hours. Most of the site's buildings take water on their service floors, and Freund Pond disappears when the small dam bursts at the east end of the "Swan pond."

August 2 – Argonne-West is evacuated at 4 p.m. because of a dust storm and 40-50 mph winds. Employees board the bus to leave the site, but their departure is delayed until 5:30 p.m. by auto accidents and zero visibility. Lab Director Dean Eastman, at Argonne-West for his first visit, had left the site before the evacuation. On Monday, Aug. 5, high winds return, and Argonne-West is evacuated at 10:30 a.m.

August 3 – Argonne-East's area code changes from 708 to 630.

September 17 – A time capsule is buried at Argonne's first Business and Industry Day to be reopened at the laboratory's 100th anniversary in 2046.

September 21 – A public open house at Argonne-East attracts an estimated 22,000 visitors to tour laboratories and view exhibits on Argonne research.

September 23 – The Argonne News announces the new Tele-Presence Microscopy Web site, where Web visitors can watch in real time as experiments are conducted on Argonne's advanced analytical electron microscope.

October 23 – The Argonne/DOE Community Leaders Round Table meets for the first time.

November 4 – The Argonne News reports that top-rated TV drama "ER" spent two days the previous week filming at Argonne-East for an episode titled "Fear of Flying."

December 4 – The Locomotive-Diesel Engine Research Facility is dedicated in Argonne-East's Building 376 High Bay to investigate new methods for improving diesel engine emissions and efficiency.

1997

January 7– The Argonne Guest House, formerly known as the User Residence Facility, welcomes its first customers.

March 12 – At 7:37 p.m., the Intense Pulsed Neutron Source (IPNS) records its 5 billionth beam pulse on target. The IPNS is the nation's longest running spallation neutron source and the most cost effective of all DOE neutron sources.

March 25 – The Guest House restaurant opens for business.

May 20 – State-of-the-Laboratory address by Argonne Director Dean Eastman..

June 11 – U.S. Secretary of Energy Federico Peña visits Argonne-East.

July 25 – Argonne-East provides the location for filming scenes for the Universal Pictures action movie "Mercury Rising," starring Bruce Willis and Alec Baldwin.

August 11 – The Argonne News reports the discovery of a new material, later dubbed "Near Frictionless Carbon, with a world record 0.001 coefficient of friction in a dry nitrogen atmosphere, 20 times lower than the previous record.

October 24 – The Argonne Information Center (AIC) opens to the public. Located in the expanded and refurbished building formerly known as the Visitor Reception Center, the 7,000-square-foot AIC contains more than 30 exhibits, many of them interactive, about Argonne science and technology.

December 15 – The Argonne News announces arrival of the Gammasphere at Argonne-East. The $20-million instrument is a gamma-ray detector designed to help answer fundamental questions about the structure and behavior of atomic nuclei.

1998

January 12 – The Argonne News reports that Argonne ranks as one of the top 10 institutions in the world in physical sciences research citations, according to a new survey by ScienceWatch, published by the Institute for Scientific Information. Argonne is the only national laboratory in the top 10.

January 19 – The Argonne News reports that the Advanced Powertrain Test Facility has begun operation at Argonne-East's Building 371. The first of its kind in the nation, the facility evaluates hybrid electric vehicle component and systems designs.

January 22 – Argonne's Guest House is officially dedicated at a lunchtime ceremony.

January 23 – Argonne's first Gammasphere experiment is conducted. The experiment by scientists from the University of Staffordshire, England, and 15 collaborators from around the world produced new data on “isospin symmetry.”

April 6 – The Argonne News reports that an international group of physicists working with the Fragment Mass Analyzer at the Argonne Tandem Linear Accelerator System have discovered the first evidence for highly deformed nuclei — squeezed by nuclear and electromagnetic forces into oblong shapes — beyond the "proton drip-line," a condition where nuclei have too many protons to be stable.

July 1 – Dean Eastman steps down as Argonne Director to teach physics and conduct research at the University of Chicago.

July 6 – The Argonne News reports the establishment of Argonne's Infrastructure Assurance Center, created in response to a June 1998 directive from President Bill Clinton calling for “a national effort to assure the security of the United States' increasingly vulnerable and interconnected infrastructures.”

September 23 – State-of-the-Laboratory address by Interim Argonne Director Frank Fradin.

September 25 – Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson dedicates Argonne's Transportation Technology R&D Center, which combines the pieces of the Argonne's transportation research expertise into one center.

October 12 – The Argonne News reports that Argonne has acquired the nation's most powerful Silicon Graphics Origin2000/Onyx 2 computer to meet the explosive demand for scientific visualization and large-scale simulation.

1999

February 23 – The Transient Reactor Test Facility at Argonne-West marks its 40th anniversary.

May 1 – An estimated 15,000 visitors attend "Discovery 2000," a public open house at Argonne-East.

May 31 – The Argonne News reports that Argonne has developed "froth flotation," the first industrial-scale method for separating plastics of equivalent density, making it possible to recover high-value plastics from mixed materials.

June 5 – Argonne-West holds a public open house to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

November 5 – An article in Science reports that Argonne scientists have developed a new ultra-sensitive trace analysis technique, "Atom Trap Trace Analysis," that can detect single atoms in a large sample.

November 22 – The Argonne News reports that Argonne's Mathematics and Computer Science Division has begun installation of "Chiba City"—the world's largest supercomputing cluster dedicated to highly scalable open source software development. When completed, Chiba City will be a 512-CPU, Linux cluster open to the U.S. research community.

1940-49 || 1950-59 || 1960-69 || 1970-79 || 1980-89 || 1990-99 || 2000-present