Historical Background
The Rad Lab evolved from the Manhattan Project of the 2nd World War. It was established by Professor Milton Burton in 1949 with support from the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. An electron accelerator was needed to investigate the effects of radiation on matter. The most suitable machine was in the Physics Department at Notre Dame (pictured]), so the Government commandeered the machine and requested Prof. Burton to explore the chemical effects of ionizing radiation.

At the end of the war, in 1946, the University invited Prof. Burton to return as a member of the Chemistry Department faculty. Radiation chemistry has been a strength of Notre Dame since that time. The current Rad Lab building was dedicated in 1964 by representatives of the U.S. Congress. The Laboratory is operated by the University of Notre Dame under contract with the U.S. Department of Energy, the Office of Basic Energy Sciences and the Division of Chemical Sciences. The history of radiation chemistry and the accelerators at Notre Dame is told in some detail in the article "An Overview of Radiation Chemical Research at Notre Dame," by Prof. R.H. Schuler, which appeared in Radiation Physics and Chemistry, volume 47, pages 9-17, in 1996.

The Radiation Lab has had six Directors since its inception:

Milton Burton 1964-1971		John L. Magee 1971-1976		Robert H. Schuler 1976-1995		Klaus-Dieter Asmus 1995-1997		Dan Meisel 1998 - 2003

All Radiation Laboratory Directors serve also as professors at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

From 1956 to 1976, Prof. Schuler served as Director of the Radiation Research Laboratory of the Mellon Institute, Carnegie-Mellon University, in Bushy Run, Pennsylvania. This laboratory was merged with the Notre Dame Radiation Laboratory in 1976.

Supported by the Division of
Chemical Sciences
Office of
Basic Energy Sciences
at the
U.S. Department of Energy

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Radiation Laboratory
Univ. of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556

Tel: (574) 631-6163
Fax: (574) 631-8068

Last Modified: 02/02/2006