HR1219 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1219 LRB099 21697 MST 48252 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives wish to recognize the 70th anniversary of Argonne National Laboratory; and

WHEREAS, Argonne's beginnings can be traced to Enrico Fermi and the attempt to create the world's first self-sustaining nuclear reaction - the Manhattan Project; because the experiments were deemed too dangerous to conduct in a major city, the operations were moved to a spot in nearby Palos Hills and renamed "Argonne" after the surrounding forest; and

WHEREAS, The laboratory was chartered as Argonne National Laboratory on July 1, 1946; at the request of the United States Atomic Energy Commission, it began developing nuclear reactors for the nation's peaceful nuclear energy program; in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the laboratory moved to a larger location in Lemont and established a remote location in Idaho, called "Argonne-West", to conduct further nuclear research; and

WHEREAS, Argonne's workforce consists of 3,298 employees, 1,623 scientists and engineers, 315 postdoctoral scholars, 457 graduate and undergraduate students, 248 joint faculty, and over 7,186 facility users; and

WHEREAS, Argonne is a multidisciplinary science and engineering research center, where "dream teams" of world-class researchers work alongside experts from industry, academia, and other government laboratories to address vital national challenges in clean energy, environment, technology, and national security; and

WHEREAS, Argonne leverages its Chicago-area location to lead discovery and to power innovation in a wide range of core scientific capabilities, from high-energy physics, and materials science to structural biology and advanced computer science; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we recognize the 70th anniversary of Argonne National Laboratory and we wish it many more successful years; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Argonne National Laboratory as an expression of our esteem and respect.