Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory located in Batavia near Chicago, Illinois is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics, operated for the Department of Energy by the Universities Research Association (URA). Founded in 1967 as the National Accelerator Laboratory, it was renamed in honor of Enrico Fermi in 1974. Fermilab's Tevatron is a landmark particle-accelerator. Four miles in circumference, it is the world's highest energy particle-accelerator. In 1995, both the CDF and D0 (detectors which utilize the Tevatron) experiments announced the discovery of the top quark. In addition to high energy collider physics, Fermilab is also host to a number of smaller fixed target experiments.

A small herd of American bison, started at the lab's founding, lives on the grounds symbolizing Fermilab's presence on the frontier of physics and its connection to the American prairie.

Asteroid (11998) Fermilab is named in honor of the laboratory.

External links

• Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (http://www.fnal.gov/)
• Universities Research Association (http://www.ura-hq.org/)
• Maps and aerial photos
  • Street map from Mapquest (http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?latlongtype=decimal&latitude=41.83296&longitude=-88.25235&zoom=7)
  • Topographic map from Topozone (http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=41.83296&lon=-88.25235&s=50&size=m)
  • Aerial photograph from Microsoft Terraserver (http://terraserver.microsoft.com/map.aspx?t=1&s=13&lon=-88.25235&lat=41.83296&w=600&h=400)