Histories of SLAC

The idea for a two-mile linear accelerator at Stanford University was conceived in 1956, proposed in 1957, and authorized by Congress in 1961. Initially called "Project M," the venture was renamed "The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center" (SLAC) in August of 1960, and again renamed " SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory" in October 2008. The initial contract between Stanford University and the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission was signed on April 30, 1962: construction began the following July and was completed February 10, 1966. SLAC's official dedication occurred on September 9, 1967.

Publications are listed in reverse chronological order (i.e. newest listed first).

Note: Some links on this page open pdf files, which require the free Acrobat Reader.

Panofsky on Physics, Politics and Peace: Pief Remembers. Wolfgang K. H. "Pief" Panofsky. New York: Springer, 2007.
"We have accelerated electrons” The history of our beginnings at Stanford . Gregory Loew. Presentation at Celebration of Sixty Years of Accelerated Electrons at Stanford and in the UK. Wednesday, 23 May 2007 (video: requires player to view)	View video
The SLAC Blue Book: A Brief History. Jean Deken, March 2007. (The Blue Book is the common name of the 1968 volume, The Stanford Two Mile Accelerator)
Illuminating the Possible by John Etchemendy. (Remarks made at the October 20, 2006 groundbreaking of the LCLS). Stanford Historical Society, Sandstone and Tile Volume 31, no 1 (Winter 2006-2007) p. 14-16.
Bringing the Internet to China by Les Cottrell. Symmetry: Dimensions of Particle Physics, Volume 2 Issue 9 November 2005.
Initiatives and Think Tanks by Arthur Bienenstock. (Stanford University: Interactions, Fall Issue, 2005, page 8)
Gallery: Early Linacs by Jean Marie Deken. Symmetry: Dimensions of Particle Physics, Volume 2 Issue 6 August 2005
Stevens, Hallam. Fundamental physics and its justifications, 1945-1993 Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences. Sept. 2003, Vol. 34, No. 1: 151-197. Copyright University of California Press.
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Celebrating 40 Years: A Photo History. Jean Marie Deken, Senior Editor. SLAC, 2002 (SLAC-R-605).
Moulton, Robert. Physics, Power and Politics--Fear and Loathing on the Electron Trail: An Eyewitness Account of the Campaign for Congressional Approval of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, 1959-1961Stanford Historical Society, Sandstone and Tile Volume 25, no 1 (Winter 2001) p. 3-13.
Doniach, Sebastian and K. Hodgson, I. Lindau, P. Pianetta, H. Winick. Early Work with Synchrotron Radiation at Stanford. Journal of Synchrotron Radiation (1997) 4, 380-395. Note: This article is from a Special Issue of Journal of Synchrotron Radiation that marked the 50th anniversary of the first observation of synchrotron radiation light.
Butcher, Bernard. "The Making of Project M," Stanford Magazine (May/June 1997).
Zuoyue Wang. "The Politics of Big Science in the Cold War: PSAC [President's Science Advisory Committee] and the Funding of SLAC [Stanford Linear Accelerator Center]." Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences 25, pt. 2 (1995): 329-356. Copyright University of California Press.
Jenkins, T.M. and McCall, R.C.. History of SLAC health physics. 1995. In Patterson, H.W. (ed.), Thomas, R.H. (ed.): The history of accelerator radiological protection, p. 185-206.
Nilan, Roxanne. "Listening to Physics: The Use of Oral History in Documenting Modern Science", Sandstone & Tile, 14:3 (Summer 1990,) pp. 8-12.
Panofsky, W. K. H. Big Physics and Small Physics at Stanford. Stanford Historical Society, Sandstone and Tile Volume 14, no. 3 (Summer 1990) p. 1-10.
Riordan, Michael. The Hunting of the Quark: A True Story of Modern Physics. New York: Simon and Shuster, 1987. 399pp. (Copy available in the SLAC library)
Rees, John. Colliding Beam Storage Rings: A Brief History. SLAC Beam Line Special Issue Number 9, March 1986.
Richter, Burton. An Informal History of SLAC Part Three: Colliding Beams at Stanford. SLAC Beam Line Special Issue Number 7, November 1984.
Panofsky, W. K. H. An Informal History of SLAC Part Two: The Evolution of SLAC and Its Program. SLAC Beam Line Special Issue Number 3, May 1983.
Ginzton, Edward L. An Informal History of SLAC Part One: Early Accelerator Work at Stanford. SLAC Beam Line Special Issue Number 2, April 1983
Deeper and Deeper into the Atom. Stanford Historical Society, Sandstone and Tile Volume 4, no. 2 (Winter 1980) p. 2-8.
Atom Smashers: Fifty Years Preview of An Exhibit on the History of High Energy Accelerators. Paul Forman, Curator of Modern Physics, The National Museum of History and Technology, Smithsonian Institution. (IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Vol NS-24, No. 3, June 1977, p. 1896-1899)
Neal, Richard B. Editor. The Stanford Two Mile Accelerator. New York: W. A. Benjamin, 1968. 1169pp.
Dupen, Douglas W. The Story of Stanford's 2-Mile Long Accelerator. SLAC-R-062, May 1966. 118pp.

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