[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 14]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 18971]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 TRIBUTE TO THE STANFORD LINEAR ACCELERATOR CENTER ON THE OCCASION OF 
                    ITS 40TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

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                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, October 1, 2002

  Ms. ESHOO Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor one of the world's most 
renowned science research facilities, the Stanford Linear Accelerator 
Center, SLAC, located in the distinguished 14th Congressional District 
of California, on the occasion of its 40th anniversary celebration.
  Hailed as one of the world's leading research laboratories, SLAC was 
established in 1962 at Stanford University with the support of the U.S. 
Department of Energy to design, construct and operate state-of-the-art 
electron accelerators and related experimental facilities for use in 
high-energy physics and synchrotron radiation research.
  Since its inception, SLAC has made enormous and lasting contributions 
to the fields of science and technology. To name but a few, the 
Laboratory led the development of particle accelerators that were at 
first used for pure research, then later developed for many practical 
applications including the daily use of medical accelerators in our 
nation's hospitals. SLAC's research in particle physics has also given 
scientists a new understanding of how our universe was constructed with 
the discovery of quarks, the smallest known components of matter. SLAC 
was also the first laboratory in the world to create a user facility 
using synchrotron radiation for research now conducted in medical 
science, biology, chemistry, physics, materials science and 
environmental science. Our nation even learned about the World Wide Web 
through SLAC, where the first American World Wide Web site was 
established.
  Many of SLAC's extraordinary accomplishments and the Laboratory's 
high-energy physics program is made possible by SLAC's B-Factory. I'm 
proud to have led the successful effort in Congress to build the B-
Factory at SLAC, upgrading an earlier electron-positron collider. This 
state-of-the-art instrument most recently helped obtain conclusive 
evidence of how B mesons disintegrate, giving scientists clues to the 
subtle difference between matter and antimatter. The B-Factory is a 
vital component of SLAC, making the Laboratory an internationally 
recognized facility, with over 3,000 scientists visiting from U.S. 
universities, national laboratories, private industries and foreign 
countries each year.
  SLAC's remarkable work has been honored with three Nobel Prizes 
awarded to SLAC faculty professors, demonstrating the enormous 
contributions SLAC has made and will continue to make in science and 
technology. The history and achievements of SLAC have not only made it 
one of the leading research facilities in the world, but also one of 
our nation's greatest treasures.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the Stanford 
Linear Accelerator Center and all its scientists, researchers, faculty 
and staff on the occasion of its 40th anniversary celebration. We're a 
better, more scientifically and technologically advanced, and safer 
nation because of SLAC and its extraordinary accomplishments.

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