Introduction to world-famous laboratories in the 20th century

In the 20th century, various physics laboratories have sprung up, and research work has been carried out extensively. It can be said that the laboratory is the cradle of science and the base of scientific research. Below we select some representative physics laboratories that have played or are playing an important role in the development of science and introduce them respectively.

The first type is a laboratory established in a university and affiliated with the university. In addition to the Cavendish Laboratory of the University of Cambridge in the UK, there are many others to name, including the Physics Laboratory of Moscow State University, the Cryogenic Laboratory of Leiden University in the Netherlands, and the Jefferson Physics Laboratory of Harvard University in the United States. Laboratory, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, Physics Laboratory, University of Manchester, UK. Most of them focus on basic research and each has its own specialties. For example:

1. Leiden Cryogenic Laboratory in the Netherlands

At the beginning of the 20th century, under the leadership of K. Onnes, this laboratory took the lead in the field of cryogenics. He was the first to realize the liquefaction of helium, discovered superconductivity, and has been a leader in the fields of low temperature and superconductivity. In particular, it developed laboratories with large-scale industrial technology and created a new era of big science. The Netherlands is a small industrial country, and the experience of the Leiden Cryogenic Laboratory in the Netherlands is particularly worthy of our study and reference.

2. The Lawrence Radiation Laboratory of the University of California, Berkeley, USA

It is the birthplace of the electron linear accelerator. It was founded in the 1930s, during the economic depression, and the founder Lawrence With his unique organizational skills, he fully exploited the human, material and financial resources of the United States and established the first batch of accelerators. Under his leadership, laboratory members have conducted extensive scientific research, discovered a series of superheavy elements, and opened up research directions such as radioactive isotopes and heavy ion science. It is the pioneer of a series of famous laboratories in the United States: Livermore, Los Alamos, Brookhaven and other laboratories, and is also a model for hundreds of accelerator laboratories in the world.

The second type of laboratories belong to national institutions, and some are even international institutions, jointly hosted by several countries. Most of them are engaged in basic metrology, high-precision projects, very large research projects, and national defense and military tasks. For example:

3. Germany’s Imperial Institute of Technical Physics (PTR)

The Imperial Institute of Technical Physics was built in 1884 and is equivalent to Germany’s National Metrology Bureau. It specializes in precision measurement. Known for thermal radiation. Researchers at the institute worked on the study of blackbody radiation at the end of the nineteenth century, leading to Planck's discovery of the quantum of action. It can be said that this laboratory is the birthplace of quantum theory.

4. The British National Physical Laboratory (NPL)

The British National Physical Laboratory is a long-standing measurement benchmark research center in the UK, founded in 1900.

In 1981, it was divided into six departments: electrical science, materials applications, mechanics and optical metrology, numerical analysis and computer science, quantum metrology, radiation science and acoustics.

As a metrology center in a highly industrialized country, it has extensive daily contacts with industry, government departments, and commercial institutions across the country. Externally, as a national representative agency, it maintains contact with various international organizations and metrology centers in various countries. It also provides advice to the government on environmental protection, such as noise, electromagnetic radiation, air pollution, etc. The British National Physical Laboratory has about 1,000 scientific and technical personnel, with a peak of 1,800 in 1969.

5. CERN (CERN)

Founded in 1954, CERN is the largest international experimental organization. Its establishment, policies, organization, topic selection, funding and execution of research plans are all unique. W± and Z0 particles were discovered here in 1983. The following year, two physicists from the center, Rubia and van der Meer, won the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Under the initiative of UNESCO, CERN was planned by 11 European countries in 1951 and now has 13 member states. The funds are shared among the member states, and the director is appointed by the Board of Directors for a term of five years. It consists of a management committee, a research committee and an experimental committee, with capable organization and perfect management. The number of employees reaches 6,000, mostly through recruitment.

Over the past thirty years, it has successively built the Proton Synchrocyclotron, the Proton Synchrotron, the Interleaved Storage Ring (ISR), the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS), the Large Electron Positron Collider (LEP), and has the world's largest hydrogen Bubble chamber (BEBL).

As an international experimental institution, CERN has strong financial, material and technical resources. Since the work involves many countries and organizations, various contradictions and frictions will inevitably occur during construction and research. However, through consultation and cooperation, the work proceeds smoothly, huge plans can be fulfilled on time, and world-renowned achievements have been made one after another (see: High Energy Physics , Issue 3, 1985, page 26).

The third type of laboratory belongs directly to the industrial enterprise department and serves the development and research of industrial technology. The most famous among them are Bell Laboratories and IBM Research Laboratories.

6. Bell Labs

Bell Labs, formerly known as Bell Telephone Laboratories, was founded in 1925 and is one of the most influential research laboratories run by industrial companies. Its main purpose is to conduct research on communication science. It has 20,000 researchers, 6 research departments, 14 branches, and 56 laboratories. Its annual funding reaches US$2.2 billion, of which 10% is used for basic research. In addition to radio electronics, there are high levels of solid-state physics (including magnetism, semiconductors, surface physics), astrophysics, quantum physics and nuclear physics. There are a large number of high-level scientific researchers in this research institution. Over the past decades, those who have won the Nobel Prize in Physics include: Davidson who invented electron diffraction, Shockley, Bardeen and Brattan who invented the transistor, Townes and Thomas who invented the laser. Schowlow, theoretical physicist Anderson, and radio astronomers Penzias and Wilson.

The experience of Bell Labs is worth noting. Industrial enterprises attach great importance to scientific research, especially basic research; development and research are integrated into one; leaders have vision and courage, and are good at seizing new and viable topics. These are all useful experiences.

7. IBM Research Laboratory

IBM is the abbreviation of International Business Machines Corporation. It has developed into a multinational company and ranks first in the world in computer production and innovation. Leading position. It was founded in 1911, formerly known as Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. (C.T.R.), and was composed of three companies that produced statistical machinery and time recorders. These companies were founded in 1889, 1890, and 1891 respectively. By the end of 1984, IBM had more than 39,000 employees and operations in 130 countries.

The IBM Research Laboratory is also called the IBM Research Department. It has 3,500 researchers (it also recruits many postdoctoral fellows and visiting scholars to participate in the work), specializing in basic scientific research and exploring product-related issues. Technology, characterized by bringing these two together. Scientists work here to advance basic science and to propose new scientific ideas that are useful for practical applications. There are four research centers under the Research Department:

(1) Thomas J. Watson Research Center in New York, USA. Engage in research in computer science, input/output technology, productive research mathematics, physics, memory and logic. Physics includes: condensed matter physics, ultrastructure, materials science, microscopy, surface physics, laser physics, astronomy and elementary particles.

(2) Almaden Research Center in California, USA. In addition to computer science, research on high-temperature superconductivity, plasmas, scanning tunneling microscopy and synchrotron radiation is also conducted.

(3) Zurich Research Center in Switzerland. The focus is on laser science and technology, especially semiconductor lasers, optical storage, optoelectronic materials, molecular beam epitaxy, high-temperature superconductivity, ultramicroscopic technology, etc. It also conducts computer science research such as information processing.

(4) Tokyo Research Center, Japan. It is divided into the Computer Science Research Institute, the New Technology Research Institute and the Tokyo Science Center. It mainly conducts research based on the production and innovation of computers.

In the 1980s, the IBM Research Center made outstanding achievements. Two Nobel Prizes in Physics were won by its members: first, for the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope, G.K. Ginnig and Rohrer. H. Rohrer won half of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physics. The second was for discovering the high-temperature superconductivity of metal oxides. J.G. Bednorz and K.A. Müller won the 1987 Nobel Prize. award.

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