Editing Argonne National Laboratory (section)

===1960–1995===
[[File:ZGS preaccelerator.png|thumb|200px|[[Albert Crewe]] (right), Argonne's third director, stands next to the [[Zero Gradient Synchrotron]]'s [[Cockcroft-Walton generator]].]]
In 1962, Argonne chemists produced the first compound of the inert [[noble gas]] [[xenon]], opening up a new field of chemical bonding research.<ref>Holl, Hewlett, and Harris, page 226.</ref> In 1963, they discovered the [[Aqueous electron|hydrated electron]].<ref>{{cite news |title = Argonne History: Innovation and Serendipity |publisher = Argonne National Laboratory |url = http://www.anl.gov/Science_and_Technology/History/Anniversary_Frontiers/chemhist.html |access-date = 2010-02-04 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100527225129/http://www.anl.gov/Science_and_Technology/History/Anniversary_Frontiers/chemhist.html |archive-date = 2010-05-27 |url-status = dead }}</ref>

Argonne was chosen as the site of the 12.5 GeV [[Zero Gradient Synchrotron]], a [[particle accelerator|proton accelerator]] that opened in 1963. A [[bubble chamber]] allowed scientists to track the motions of [[subatomic particle]]s as they zipped through the chamber; they later observed the [[neutrino]] in a hydrogen bubble chamber for the first time.<ref>Patel, page 23</ref>

In 1964, the "Janus" reactor opened to study the effects of neutron radiation on biological life, providing research for guidelines on safe exposure levels for workers at power plants, laboratories and hospitals.<ref>{{cite news |title = Research helps safeguard nuclear workers worldwide |publisher = Argonne National Laboratory |url = http://www.ne.anl.gov/About/hn/news960803.shtml}}</ref>  Scientists at Argonne pioneered a technique to analyze the [[Moon]]'s surface using [[alpha decay|alpha radiation]], which launched aboard the [[Surveyor 5]]<ref>{{cite news |last = Jacobsen |first = Sally |title = Getting Aboard Viking: No Room on the Mars Lander. |date = December 1971|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=JgsAAAAAMBAJ}}</ref> in 1967 and later analyzed lunar samples from the [[Apollo 11]] mission.

In 1978, the [[Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System]] (ATLAS) opened as the world's first superconducting accelerator for projectiles heavier than the electron.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.anl.gov/atlas/about-atlas|title=About ATLAS|publisher=Argonne National Laboratory|access-date=22 May 2023}}</ref>

Nuclear engineering experiments during this time included the Experimental [[Boiling Water Reactor]], the forerunner of many modern nuclear plants, and [[Experimental Breeder Reactor II]] (EBR-II), which was sodium-cooled, and included a fuel recycling facility. EBR-II was later modified to test other reactor designs, including a [[fast-neutron reactor]] and, in 1982, the [[Integral fast reactor|Integral Fast Reactor]] concept—a revolutionary design that reprocessed its own fuel, reduced its atomic waste and withstood safety tests of the same failures that triggered the [[Chernobyl disaster|Chernobyl]] and [[Three Mile Island accident|Three Mile Island]] disasters.<ref>{{cite news |title = Frontline: Nuclear Reaction: Interview with Dr. Charles Till |publisher = PBS |url = https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/reaction/interviews/till.html}}</ref> In 1994, however, the U.S. Congress [[Peace dividend|terminated funding]] for the bulk of Argonne's nuclear programs.

Argonne moved to specialize in other areas, while capitalizing on its experience in physics, chemical sciences and [[metallurgy]]. In 1987, the laboratory was the first to successfully demonstrate a pioneering technique called [[plasma wakefield acceleration]], which accelerates particles in much shorter distances than conventional accelerators.<ref>{{cite web|title=Argonne History: Understanding the Physical Universe |publisher=Argonne National Laboratory |url=http://www.anl.gov/Science_and_Technology/History/Anniversary_Frontiers/physhist.html#neutrino |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040909173546/http://www.anl.gov/Science_and_Technology/History/Anniversary_Frontiers/physhist.html |archive-date=9 September 2004 }}</ref> It also cultivated a strong [[battery (electricity)|battery]] research program.

Following a major push by then-director Alan Schriesheim, the laboratory was chosen as the site of the [[Advanced Photon Source]], a major X-ray facility which was completed in 1995 and produced the brightest X-rays in the world at the time of its construction.
[[File:Video about the IVN-Tandem at the Argonne National Laboratory.ogg|thumb|A Department of Energy video about the IVN-Tandem at the Argonne National Laboratory.]]