The Founding of the Brookhaven National Laboratory - Associated Universities, Inc.
At the end of the war it became apparent that the teamwork of government and scientific institutions, which had been so effective in wartime work, must somehow be perpetuated in order to insure the continued progress of nuclear science in peace time. The enormous expense of the tools needed to pursue the next steps in this research -- nuclear reactors and high energy accelerators -- and the shortage of scientifically trained personnel pointed towards the establishment of a cooperative laboratory. Such a laboratory, using government funds, could carry out a comprehensive research program that would benefit the many interested research groups throughout the country. As a result of the wartime programs under the Manhattan District, centers of research in nuclear science were already active at the Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley, California, at Los Alamos in New Mexico, at the Clinton Laboratories in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and at the Argonne Laboratory in Chicago. No analogous nuclear research laboratories, however, had developed in the Northeast, and since so much of the nation's scientific talent and industrial activities are concentrated in the northeastern states, it was proposed that a new laboratory be established near New York City. As a result of this plan, the Brookhaven National Laboratory is now in operation at Upton, Long Island. The work of this Laboratory is performed under a contract between the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and a corporation, Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) , formed by representatives of nine of the larger private universities in the northeast: Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, the University of Rochester, and Yale. The purpose of this laboratory is the advancement of knowledge in the fundamentals of nuclear science, the extension of its application to other fields, and the training of young scientists in these new subjects. This report, the final report of the Columbia University contracts which financed the first year of development of the Brookhaven National Laboratory, summarizes the successive stages of organization, the considerations underlying some of its basic policies, and the methods of attack on the general problems encountered in founding the Laboratory. During the preliminary period of planning covered by this report, from early January 1946 until January 31, 1947, Columbia paid for salaries, office space, travel and consultant fees, and other expenses incurred by the new organization. These funds were provided through contracts held by the university with the War Department and later with the AEC. A supplement, dated April 3, to a contract with the War Department, W-7405-eng-50, covered the work to June 30, 1946. Contract W-3l-l09-eng-15, with the War Department, covered the work to December 31, 1946. On January 1, 1947, this contract was converted to a contract with the AEC, AT-30-1-GEN-71, which lasted until January 31, 1947. After this date a Letter Contract, AT-30-2-GEN-16, dated January 7, 1947, between AUI and the AEC, permitted AUI to assume all expenses.
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-98CH10886
- OSTI ID:
- 956992
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-FOUNDING-1948; TRN: US201002%%704
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Phil Wallace and Theoretical Physics at McGill in the 1950's: A Personal Perspective
LABORATORY ROYALTY USE PROGRAM ANNUAL REPORT TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY