Particle Physics Receives Boost from $5 Million Gift

“This is a marvelous gift,” said Robert Zimmer, President of the University. “A generous family has stepped forward and is making an investment in high-energy physics, to the direct benefit of our ambitious scientific goals. It is a powerful recognition of the importance of basic research.”

The donor wishes to remain anonymous.

The University will use these funds to establish programs through Fermilab, the only laboratory that is fully devoted to the field of particle physics in the nation. The programs established by the University through a contract with Fermilab will enable scientists at Fermilab, working with their university partners, to take steps toward a world-class national program for the study of neutrinos and rare particle processes.

“This will be an enormous boost to the future of the laboratory,” said Pier Oddone, director of Fermilab and president of the Fermi Research Alliance that manages Fermilab for the Department of Energy. “The faith in us, in our great institution and in the value of the work we do to tackle the deepest mysteries of nature will be a source of inspiration for us at Fermilab for many years to come.”

The Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, located 40 miles west of Chicago, is the nation’s only dedicated laboratory for research in high-energy physics. The Fermi Research Alliance, a limited liability company comprising the University of Chicago and Universities Research Association, a consortium of 90 research universities, operates Fermilab under a contract for the Department of Energy.