Jefferson Lab: History

At the outset, SURA’s original thirteen member universities were focused on a single mission – to capture the nuclear physics research lab planned by the US Department of Energy. The SURA team secured pledges for new university faculty positions as part of a strategy to establish a strong nuclear physics research base in the Southeast. The SURA proposal emerged above its competitors, and with the development of a new technology called superconducting radiofrequency, the world’s first large-scale super-conducting electron accelerator was constructed. The Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF), located at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab or JLab) in Newport News, Virginia, is a complex assembly of high-tech hardware and electronics stretching through an underground racetrack-shaped tunnel almost a mile in circumference.

Jefferson Lab enjoys strong support from the Commonwealth of Virginia and the City of Newport News, and works together with the community to establish a strong relationship through public outreach and successful education programs.


"The Founding of CEBAF, 1979 to 1987", CatherineWestfall

A Review of Argonne National Laboratory's Comparative Economic Analysis
    of Alternative Sites for an Electron Accelerator Facility
   University of Virginia for SURA, June 1983

Report of the Panel on Electron Accelerator Facilities
   DOE/NSF Nuclear Science Advisory Committee, April 1983