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FermilabFermi 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. The lab's first Director was Rorbert Rathburn Wilson, a gifted physicist and artist. Many of the unique sculptures on the site are of his creation. It was in great part due to his brilliance and shrewd planning that the facility was finished ahead of time and under budget. The high rise located on site is named in his honor. After Dr. Wilson stepped down in 1978 to protest the lack of funding for the lab, Dr. Leon M. Lederman took on the job. It was under his guidance that the original accelerator was replaced with the Tevatron accelerator; the Tevatron is capable of colliding a proton and an antiproton at a combined energy of 2 TeV. Dr. Lederman stepped down in 1988. The on-site science education center was named in his honor. From 1988 to 1998, the lab was run by Dr. John Peoples. 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
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