Argonne National Laboratory is one of the U.S. Department of Energy's largest research centers. It is also the nation's first national laboratory, chartered in 1946.

Argonne is a direct descendant of the University of Chicago's Metallurgical Laboratory, part of the World War Two Manhattan Project. It was at the Met Lab where, on Dec. 2, 1942, Enrico Fermi and his band of about 50 colleagues created the world's first controlled nuclear chain reaction in a squash court at the University of Chicago. After the war, Argonne was given the mission of developing nuclear reactors for peaceful purposes. Over the years, Argonne's research expanded to include many other areas of science, engineering and technology -- some of which are highlighted in this virtual tour. Argonne is not and never has been a weapons laboratory.

Today, the laboratory has about 4,000 employees, including about 1,200 scientists and engineers, of whom about 700 hold doctorate degrees. Argonne's annual operating budget of about $500 million supports upwards of 200 research projects, ranging from studies of the atomic nucleus to global climate change research. Since 1990, Argonne has worked with more than 600 companies and numerous federal agencies and other organizations.

Argonne occupies two sites. The Illinois site is surrounded by forest preserve about 25 miles southwest of Chicago's Loop. About 3,200 of Argonne's 4,000 employees work on the site's 1,500 wooded acres. The site also houses the U.S. Department of Energy's Chicago Operations Office. The other site is Argonne-West in Idaho.