Founding of Brookhaven National Laboratory In 1946,
representatives from nine major eastern universities Columbia,
Cornell, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, MIT, Princeton, University of
Pennsylvania, University of Rochester, and Yale formed a
nonprofit corporation to establish a new nuclear-science
facility. They choose a surplus army base way out on Long Island
as the site. The U.S. War Department transferred Upton to the
U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) on March 21, 1947. The AEC,
a predecessor to the present U. S. Department of Energy (DOE),
provided the initial funding for Brookhaven's research into the
peaceful uses of the atom, with the goal of improving public
well-being. Brookhaven National Laboratory was conceived to
promote basic research in the physical, chemical, biological,
and engineering aspects of the atomic sciences. An equally
important concept was the establishment of a national laboratory
in the Northeast to design, construct, and operate large
scientific machines that individual institutions c