Editing Argonne National Laboratory (section)

===Early research===
The lab's early efforts focused on developing designs and materials for producing electricity from nuclear reactions. The laboratory designed and built [[Chicago Pile 3]] (1944), the world's first [[heavy water reactor|heavy-water moderated reactor]], and the [[Experimental Breeder Reactor I]] (Chicago Pile 4) in Idaho, which lit a string of four light bulbs with the world's first nuclear-generated electricity in 1951. The [[Boiling water reactor|BWR]] power station reactor, now the second most popular design worldwide, came from the [[BORAX experiments]]. 

The knowledge gained from the Argonne experiments was the foundation for the designs of most of the commercial reactors used throughout the world for electric power generation, and inform the current evolving designs of liquid-metal reactors for future power stations.

Meanwhile, the laboratory was also helping to design the reactor for the world's first [[Nuclear marine propulsion|nuclear-powered]] [[submarine]], the [[USS Nautilus (SSN-571)|U.S.S. ''Nautilus'']], which steamed for more than {{convert|513,550|nmi|km}} and provided a basis for the United States' [[nuclear navy]]. 

Not all nuclear technology went into developing reactors, however. While designing a scanner for reactor fuel elements in 1957, Argonne physicist William Nelson Beck put his own arm inside the scanner and obtained one of the first [[Medical ultrasonography|ultrasound]] images of the human body.<ref>{{cite news |title = William Nelson "Nels" Beck: Joliet Physicist's Work Changed Medical World |publisher = CityofJoliet.com |url = http://www.cityofjoliet.com/halloffame/scientists/wnbeck.htm |access-date = 2010-02-04 |archive-date = 2011-07-21 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110721014451/http://www.cityofjoliet.com/halloffame/scientists/wnbeck.htm |url-status = dead }}</ref> Remote manipulators designed to handle radioactive materials laid the groundwork for more complex machines used to clean up contaminated areas, sealed laboratories or caves.<ref>Holl, Hewlett, and Harris, page 126</ref> 

In addition to nuclear work, the laboratory performed basic research in [[physics]] and [[chemistry]]. In 1955, Argonne chemists co-discovered the [[Chemical element|elements]] [[einsteinium]] and [[fermium]], elements 99 and 100 in the [[periodic table]].<ref>Holl, Hewlett, and Harris, page 179.</ref>