Fermilab and Cantigny -- May 20, 2010

It was another incredible day of educational variety when OLLI traveled north to visit Fermilab in Batavia and Cantigny in Wheaton, Illinois.

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics. Fermilab's Tevatron is a landmark particle accelerator; at 3.9 miles in circumference, it is the world's second largest energy particle accelerator (CERN's Large Hadron Collider is the largest).

OLLI spent more than 90 minutes touring Fermilab's Wilson Hall, then had the opportunity for a private question-and-answer session with a scientist (who himself was retiring in three days). After a short drive to Wheaton, we arrived on the grounds of Cantigny, the former esttate of Robert R. McCormick. There, we dined at Le Jardin and took private tours of the First Division Museum, the McCormick Museum, and roamed the largest display gardens in the midwest.

Thank you to the staff at Fermilab and Cantigny for providing educational presentations throughout the day for our OLLI members.