Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
"Rad Lab" INDEX
Site History and Operation LBNL began as an accelerator laboratory in 1931, when Ernest O. Lawrence established the Radiation Laboratory with the construction of the 27-Inch Cyclotron on the UCB campus. The laboratory was moved to its present location in 1940, when the 184-Inch Cyclotron was built on a hill overlooking the campus and the City of Berkeley. During a period of rapid growth between 1940 and 1946, the original hillside laboratory (Old Town area) became crowded with temporary wooden buildings hastily erected in response to national defense needs. Further development during the 1950’s was more carefully planned, with the construction of permanent concrete and steel-frame structures east and west of the earlier buildings. From 1948 until 1972, LBNL was known as the Lawrence Radiation "Rad" Laboratory and was funded by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and its successor agencies. The name was changed to the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in 1972 and changed again in 1995 to the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In general, the structures of LBNL are DOE-owned, while the land is owned by UC and leased to DOE.