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Photo: Reidar Hahn, Fermilab |
A special day in Illinois
Valentine's Day. Thanksgiving Day. Secretary's Day.
The United States celebrates and honors lots of events and people. In April, the residents of Illinois added another occasion to their list. Recognizing the importance of accelerator technology and the significant role that Fermilab and Argonne National Laboratory—both located in Illinois—play in the field, Governor Rod Blagojevich proclaimed April 21, 2006 as "Particle Accelerator Day" in Illinois.
"Illinois has been recognized as an international leader in accelerator technology thanks to these laboratories," said Jack Lavin (left photo), director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, who read the proclamation at an event that also saw the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by Fermilab director Pier Oddone (left photo) and Argonne director Rob Rosner.
Speaker of the US House of Representatives Dennis Hastert, who did not attend the event, sent congratulations from Washington, DC. "Fermilab and Argonne are two of the premier research institutions in the world," he said. "You don't have to understand every detail of what happens at these laboratories to know that great ideas come from them. With this new agreement, the position of our nation, and our state, can only be strengthened at the forefront of scientific research. I'm excited to think about the great discoveries to come from these two world-leading labs as they work together even more closely in the years ahead."
Kurt Riesselmann
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