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.
William D. Nix (2019), A Century of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford: From Steels to Semiconductors to Nano- and Bio-Materials.
Stanford Historical Society and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University. (Pages 86-91 cover history of SSRP/SSRL.) |
 |
Thomas Heinze & Olof Hallonsten (2017), The reinvention of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 1992–2012, History and Technology,
33:3, 300-332, DOI: 10.1080/07341512.2018.1449711 |
 |
Linac Coherent Light Source: The first five years. Christoph Bostedt, Sebastien Boutet, David M. Fritz, Zhirong Huang, Hae Ja Lee, Henrik T.
Lemke, Aymeric Robert, William F. Schlotter, Joshua J. Turner, and Garth J. Williams.
Rev. Mod. Phys. 88, 015007. Published 9 March 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.88.015007 |
|
The Parasites: Synchrotron Radiation at SLAC, 1972-1992. Olof Hallonsten,
Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences, V 45 N 2, 2015 |
|
The Physics of the B Factories. Ed. A.J. Bevan, B. Golob, Th. Mannel, S. Prell, and
B.D. Yabsley, submitted to EPJC, SLAC-PUB-15968, KEK Preprint 2014-3
|
|
LCLS early history: Groundbreaking Science with the World’s
Brightest X-Rays
. Also, William H. Goldstein, LLNL Associate Director for Physical and Life
Sciences, Commentary: World’s Most Intense X-Ray Laser Focuses on
Livermore Science . Science & Technology Review, Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory, January/February 2011
|
|
Hallonsten, Olof.
Small science on big machines: Politics and practices of synchrotron radiation laboratories.
Lund: Lund Studies in Research Policy 1, Research Policy Institute, Lund, 2009.
(Esp. Chapter 4: Synchrotron radiation at Stanford -- from parasitic to symbiotic and back. 109-154)
|
|
Hodgson, Keith. Photon Science at
SLAC--What, Why and Where To? SLAC Today, April 4, 2008 |
|
Panofsky, Wolfgang K. H.
Panofsky on Physics,
Politics and Peace:
Pief Remembers. New York: Springer, 2007. |
 |
Loew, Gregory.
"We have accelerated electrons"
The history of our beginnings at Stanford . Presentation at Celebration of Sixty Years
of Accelerated Electrons at Stanford and in the UK. Wednesday, 23 May 2007 |
|
Deken, Jean Marie.
The SLAC Blue Book: A Brief History, March 2007. (The Blue Book is the common name
of the 1968 volume, The Stanford Two Mile
Accelerator) |
 |
Etchemendy, John.
Illuminating the Possible. (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. |
 |
Cottrell, Les.
Bringing the Internet to China.
Symmetry:
Dimensions of Particle Physics, Volume 2 Issue 9
November 2005. |
 |
Bienenstock, Arthur.
Initiatives and Think Tanks. (Stanford University: Interactions,
Fall Issue, 2005, page 8) |
 |
Deken, Jean Marie.
Gallery: Early Linacs.
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. Pages
1-59, 60-123, plus
Errata sheet. 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) |
|
Traweek, Sharon. Beamtimes
and Lifetimes: The World
of High-Energy Physics.Harvard University Press, 1988 [Study of SLAC and KEK] |
 |
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. |
|
Ash, W. W. and H.A. Weidner. Stanford Linear Accelerator Center: A National
Historic Engineering Landmark, Designated 1984, Stanford, California. (Sections include Engineering the
Subatomic Machines, The Two-Mile Accelerator, Magnetic Spectrometers, Colliding-Beam Machines, and SLAC-A Brief
History) |
 |
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 |
|
Drell, Sidney D. SLAC and the Adventure of Science. SLAC
Beam Line, November 1982 |
|
Allen, Peter C.
Deeper and Deeper into
the Atom. Stanford
Historical Society, Sandstone and Tile Volume 4, no.
2 (Winter 1980) p. 2-8. |
|
Forman, Paul.
Atom Smashers: Fifty Years Preview of An Exhibit on
the History of High Energy Accelerators. 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. |
 |
[Kirk, William] An Informal History of SLAC.
SLAC, [1967-1968] (26-page black and white illustrated booklet) |  |
Dupen, Douglas W.
The Story of Stanford's 2-Mile Long Accelerator.
SLAC-R-062, May 1966. 118pp. |
 |
-- Return to top --
|