T.W. Bonner Physics Laboratory records, Rice University

Opened in 1953, the Rice Nuclear Laboratory would later become known as the Bonner Laboratory. It was named in dedication to the late Tom W. Bonner who was a renowned nuclear physicist both in the local community and internationally. The lab was designed by Abel Pierce and George F. Pierce Jr. The Bonner Lab was originally home to one particle accelerator, a Mega Electron Volt Van de Graaff machine. A second particle accelerator was acquired in 1961. The Bonner Lab was the United States’ first fully equipped nuclear laboratory based out of a university. Major discoveries and accomplishments in the field of nuclear physics were discovered in the Bonner Lab. The two particle accelerators were donated to other laboratories in 1972 and the Bonner Lab was used for music practice and performance as well as computational engineering. In 1994, the Bonner Lab building was demolished. The laboratory was located where Duncan Hall is now.