Argonne National Laboratory

Argonne National Laboratory is a multidisciplinary science and engineering research center dedicated to addressing critical national challenges in sustainable energy, a healthy environment, and a secure nation. Established in 1946 as the first national laboratory in the United States, it operates as a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and managed by UChicago Argonne LLC, a subsidiary of the University of Chicago. Its main campus is located at 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Lemont, Illinois, southwest of Chicago.

The laboratory conducts extensive basic and applied research across diverse scientific domains, including physical sciences, life sciences, environmental sciences, energy sciences, photon sciences, data sciences, and computational sciences. It hosts several national user facilities, such as the Advanced Photon Source (APS), Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF), Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM), and Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System (ATLAS), which are utilized by scientists from academia, industry, and other research institutions worldwide. Key research areas encompass energy storage and renewable energy, fundamental physics, chemistry, materials science, environmental sustainability, supercomputing, nuclear energy, and national security.

Under the leadership of Director Paul K. Kearns since 2017, Argonne National Laboratory continues to drive scientific and technological advancements. Recent notable achievements include the development of a novel qubit platform exhibiting ultra-low noise levels, a significant step forward for quantum computing. The laboratory has also been involved in research on lower-cost sodium-ion batteries and launched an AI "adviser" in early 2026. In April 2026, it received an additional $45 million from the National Science Foundation for a water-focused initiative aimed at the Great Lakes region. With an annual operating budget of approximately $1.1 billion and a workforce of nearly 4,000 employees, Argonne remains the largest national laboratory in the Midwestern United States.