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The University of California
Department of Energy National Laboratories
The University of California is involved in managing three U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories. The Lawrence Berkeley
laboratory was founded on the UC Berkeley campus in 1931 as an interdisciplinary
research center. Some years later, the Livermore and Los Alamos
laboratories were established to serve U.S. defense needs; they
continue today in new aspects of that mission, including response
to terrorism and homeland defense. With a combined workforce of more
than 21,000, the three laboratories have become unparalleled research
and development centers whose programs and activities address national
interests and concerns in areas such as energy, environment, and health. The
laboratories also contribute to the nation's economic competitiveness
through partnerships with industry, and all are leaders in math
and science education, helping to enlighten, educate, and train
students and teachers at all levels.
UC and the National Laboratories: Unparalleled Contributions to Education, Discovery and Public Service
Maps and Directions
for UC National Labs
Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory
Nobel Prize-winning physicist Ernest Orlando Lawrence, who invented
the cyclotron, founded the laboratory in 1931. Lawrence pioneered
the modern practice of interdisciplinary science, bringing together
scientists, engineers, and technicians from different fields to
work on complex projects. The laboratory became a federal facility
in 1942, and UC's management of LBNL for the government was formalized
the following year. The first laboratory in the federal laboratory
system, its physicists and chemists have won nine Nobel Prizes.
Today, LBNL is a multi-program lab where research in advanced materials,
life sciences, energy efficiency, detectors and accelerators serves
the country's needs in technology and the environment. The Berkeley
lab has been a worldwide pioneer in the development of radiation
therapy for treating cancer. It helped explain the difference between
the healthy and unhealthy blood fats (HDL and LDL) and how they
affect your health. It also helped explain photosynthesis, by which
plants produce food; how radon can seep into buildings and increase
the risk of cancer; and how to make buildings more energy efficient
through the use of better windows and light bulbs that use less
electricity. The 130-acre lab is located on the hillside above the
UC Berkeley campus, overlooking San Francisco Bay.
Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory
At the government's request, Ernest Orlando Lawrence and physicist
Edward Teller founded LLNL in 1952 as an offshoot of the Berkeley
laboratory. Located on one square mile about 50 miles southeast
of San Francisco, the Livermore lab has become one of the world's
premier scientific centers, where cutting-edge science and engineering
in the interest of national security is used to break new ground
in other areas of national importance, including energy, biomedicine
and environmental science. Major laboratory work in recent years
has included stockpile stewardship; nonproliferation and arms control;
magnetic and laser fusion energy; and environmental restoration
and waste management. The lab has pioneered ways to predict where
the wind will carry chemicals or radioactivity after an accident
or an attack so that authorities can tell people in one area that
they're safe but in another area that they should stay inside. It
developed a laser-based system now in clinical trials to break up
the blood clots that cause stroke and a biopsy system that may eventually
be used to improve the diagnosis of breast cancer. As part of its
national-security mission, Livermore has developed a network of
bio-detectors – something like smoke detectors for dangerous
bacteria – that could be placed in airports, stadiums or convention
halls to signal a bio attack or other problem.
In May 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC was selected to be the management and operations contractor for the Livermore lab, effective October 1, 2007. LLNL, LLC includes UC, Bechtel National, Inc., The Babcock & Wilcox Company, the Washington Group International, Inc. and Battelle.
Los
Alamos National Laboratory
In 1942, a team of scientists, engineers, and technicians led by
UC Berkeley physics professor J. Robert Oppenheimer gathered in
Los Alamos to begin the Manhattan Project, the secret mission to
develop the atomic bomb that would help end World War II. Still
best known for its contributions to national security – recently
developing bio-detectors and other detectors to keep terrorists
from smuggling nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, for example
– Los Alamos research is creating new products and technologies
in many other completely different fields, such as a computer code
to improve automobile efficiency, tape that conducts electricity
without any resistance, and a virus database that may be helpful
in developing an AIDS vaccine. In 1943, UC agreed to manage the
laboratory for the federal government. Located 35 miles northwest
of Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Los Alamos lab has since become a major
research complex, including extraordinarily powerful supercomputers,
more than 50 cross-disciplinary facilities and a leading role in
the development of the human genome map. LANL has more than 300
industrial partnerships with a combined value in excess of $650
million in the past decade. One of the largest multidisciplinary
institutions in the world, it is also the largest employer in Northern
New Mexico, with 6,800 UC employees and 2,800 contractor personnel.
After 60 years, the University of California competed for and was awarded a contract to manage the Los Alamos National Laboratory as part of a new limited liability corporation - Los Alamos National Security LLC (LANS) - which includes Bechtel, The Babcock & Wilcox Company and Washington Group International.
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Berkeley - LBNL
Livermore - LLNL
Los Alamos - LANL
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