Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) the Chilton / Harwell Science Campus, is a UK research laboratory in Oxfordshire.
RAL is run by the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CCLRC)
The Rutherford High Energy Laboratory was set up on the Chilton Harwell site in 1957, and merged with the with the Atlas and Appleton Laboratories in 1975 and 1979, respectively, to form the current laboratory. The CCLRC was set up to run RAL as well as Daresbury Laboratory in 1996.
RAL hosts ISIS, the brightest spallation neutron source in the world, which provides research capabilities for around 1600 scientists from a range of disciplines, and has been operating since 1985.
RAL was controversially chosen as the site for the synchrotron light source Diamond, which is due to open officially in January 2007.
RAL also hosts a number of other resources and services in atmospheric sciences, spectroscopy, laser sources and renewable energy research.