NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WVEC) --Following a $338 million upgrade, the Jefferson Lab will be able to continue to pursue Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking's mission for another generation.
The mission? Studying the building blocks of our universe.
The 1,600 scientists there conduct basic research of the atom's nucleus, using the facility's s unique particle accelerator, known as the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF).
Wednesday, they celebrated the completion of the facility's expansion, which was on-time on budget.
"This is a great day for our field of nuclear physics," said Jefferson Lab Director Stuart Henderson. "It ushers in a new era of scientific discovery."
Under Secretary of Energy, Paul Dubba hailed the GeV CEBAF upgrade. He noted that the lab's microscopes will allow the scientists, "to see objects a million times smaller than an atom, to peer into the heart of the matter."
The Thomas Jefferson Accelerator Facility is one of 17 national laboratories funded b the U.S. Department of Energy. It is 34 years old.
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