Robert Rathbun Wilson
| The Directors > Robert R. Wilson | Leon M. Lederman | John Peoples | Michael S. Witherell |
The Robert R. Wilson Collection contains the written and audio-visual records of the personal history (1914 - 2000) and professional history (1967-78) of Fermilab's first director. Wilson's western roots and Berkeley training prepared him for his frontier work on the Manhattan Project and pioneering developments at Cornell University's Newman Laboratory for Nuclear Studies. In 1967 he was selected to create the National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois. Under Wilson's supervision the Main Ring accelerator became the highest energy proton synchrotron in the world. Wilson's creativity extended from accelerators to the entire visual aestheticism of Fermilab, enhancing the site's natural beauty with his artistic touch in sculpture and architecture.