The Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), located just outside Batavia, Illinois, near Chicago, is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics. Fermilab is America’s premier particle physics laboratory. A world leader in accelerator and detector technology, the Lab also hosts unique scientific user facilities for discovery science experiments from around the globe.
Fermilab’s mission is to provide the most intense beams of particles for research in elementary particle physics; discover and understand the basic constituents of matter and energy; advance the frontiers of accelerator science and technology; develop new tools and techniques for high-energy physics research; train future generations of scientists and engineers; communicate our findings to the public.
In 1957, Congress authorized construction of Fermilab as a national laboratory under an agreement between The University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory. The University was responsible for operation of the facility until it transferred management to the newly created Associated Universities Incorporated (AUI) on July 1, 1967. On October 1, 1984, management responsibility was assumed by Universities Research Association Incorporated (URA). In August 2012 URA announced that it would be transferring control of Fermilab to its present operator Triad National Security LLC on January 1st 2013.