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LBNL Publications

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has a long tradition of publishing lab-wide employee newsletters and general coverage magazines.  In addition, there have been a number of newsletters geared towards individual organizations at the Lab (divisions, departments, and groups). Much of the history of the Laboratory can be traced through these kinds of publications.  This page provides links to all three categories of publications.

 

Lab-wide Employee Newsletters

  • The Magnet was preceded by the Radiation Laboratory Bulletin for which there are scans of three issues from 1953.
  • The Radiation Laboratory Calendar provided a calendar with brief notices of events of academic and general interest every two weeks, and served as a supplement to the Radiation Laboratory Bulletin. There are scans from 1953 to 1964.
  • Inaugurated in 1957 by Ernest O. Lawrence, The Magnet had the stated goal of sharing with the staff and their families the achievements, activities, and future plans of the laboratory.  Scans of over 20 years of The Magnet (1957-1976) can be found here.  In 1976 it was replaced by the LBL Newsmagazine.
  • The Magnet Memo was published concurrently with The Magnet.  Beginning in 1972, it combined the 184 Club Beam and the Flea Market.  It came out every two weeks, was written by The Magnet staff, and was also geared to covering events, projects, and information of concern to LBL employees.
  • Currents was inaugurated on March 15, 1974 with the stated purpose of bringing Lab staff members up to date information on news items, meetings, employee benefits, job openings, service awards, 184 Club news, social events and the Flea Market.  For scanned versions of paper originals of Currents from 1974 to 1993, go here.  For HTML versions from 1994 through August 2003 go here.
  • In September 2003 Currents was replaced by The View.  For HTML versions of The View from September 2003 through March 2008 go here.  From it’s inception until June 2005, The View was a biweekly; after that it was a monthly publication.
  • Today at Berkeley Lab (TABL) the previous employee newsletter began 2003 and was a daily publication emailed to employees until January 2018 when it was replaced with Elements.  For HTML versions of Today at Berkeley Lab in it’s newsletter format from 2003 through June 2008 go here.  For 2008 through 2010, go here.  The November 12, 2010 issue announced that that issue of was the last to be delivered to staff via e-mail. Subsequently, all Lab internal news was to be be posted on the Today at Berkeley Lab website.  Until the introduction of Elements, employees still received a daily e-mail with headlines for the day’s top stories. Staff could also subscribe to an RSS feed of the publication.
  • Elements was introduced as the Lab’s news source on January 2018–go to elements.lbl.gov for more information on this new intranet service, available only to Lab employees.  The LBNL Newscenter (https://newscenter.lbl.gov/) remains as another news source for both Lab employees and the larger public.
  • When TABL was retired, a history of the Lab’s publications appeared in the last issue.  This history made extensive use of the resources of this page.

 

Magazines and Reports

  • The LBL Newsmagazine replaced The Magnet in 1976.  In the last issue of The Magnet, the LBL Newsmagazine was described by the editors as having a  newsmagazine format, divided according to the 10 divisions of the Laboratory. Within the section devoted to each division the readers would encounter articles in a non-technical style about what’s going on from an insider’s point of view.  Also included would be letters to the editor, question-and-answer features, by-lined articles, interviews, etc. that could not be managed in The Magnet format. Go here for scanned versions of this publication.  Go here to access the part of the HTML version of a 1981 issue of the LBL Newsmagazine which featured “Lawrence and His Laboratory–A Historian’s View of the Lawrence Years.”
  • For HTML versions of the LBL Research Review and LBL Research Highlights (a special issue of the Research Review) from 1993 to 2003 go here.  The research featured in these publications represented a sampling of the many projects being conducted throughout the laboratory. They ranged from fundamental research about the nature of the universe to scientific endeavors involving public health, environmental safety, science and math education, and industrial technology.  For scanned versions of this magazine from 1985 to 1994 go here.
  • For HTML versions of the 1994 and 1995 Regents Report go here.  According to the director’s message in the 1995 report, these reports focused on some of the specific ways the Lab contributed to the fabric of research and scientific achievement in America. At the same time, it highlighted the Lab’s commitments to local and regional education and quality of life, and noted the progress made in management’s goal to deliver the best research support services at the lowest cost.
  • From 1958 through 1965 the Lab published a report called Status which can be accessed here.  Status summarized for the nonspecialist the activities of the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory (which included both the Berkeley and the Livermore sites.  In 1966, separate reports were issued for Berkeley and Livermore and administrative detail was limited to financial and personnel summaries.  The focus in Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Berkeley/1966 (a scanned version of which is available here) was on the Berkeley Laboratory’s achievement in research and technology.
  • For Miscellaneous lab-wide publications go here.

 

Divisional, Departmental or Group Level Newsletters

Over the years there have been a number of newsletters whose audience was not necessarily Lab-wide but was instead aimed at a Lab sub-unit audience.  These newsletters are not curated at this site; instead there are links out from this site to these newsletters.

  • ALSNews Newsletter is a monthly electronic newsletter produced by the ALS Communications Group to keep users and other interested parties informed about developments at the Advanced Light Source, a national user facility located at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.  The archives, dating back to November 1, 1994 can be found here.
  • All issues of the Acclerator Technology & Applied Physics (ATAP) Newsletter, as well as that of it’s predecessor, the Accelerator and Fusion Research Division (AFRD) Newsletter are available here.
  • The Berkeley Lab Postdoc Association Newsletter can be found here.
  • InTheLoop is the weekly e-newsletter for and about the Computing Sciences Area at Berkeley Lab. It has been continuously published the first day of every work week since 1997. CS staff, guests and affiliates automatically receive the newsletter, but anyone may subscribe.  Issues from 2017-2018 are available here.  Access to newsletters from 1997 to 2016 are available here.
  • In the 1980’s IT published a monthly, staple-bound, paper newsletter about 10-20 pages in length. This was the first generation of an electronic Help Desk in the form of an email alias, [email protected]. The function was in fact officially known as “Trouble Mail.”  IT staff curated trouble mail and published some in the monthly paper newsletter, sort of a proto FAQ or Knowledge Base.  A few of these “newsletters” can be viewed here.  Thanks to Mark Dedlow for unearthing these.