ORNL FCU 75 Years

Nineteen eighty-nine was a year full of political change. Around the world, signs of democracy, such as the protests at Tiananmen Square in China and the fall of the Berlin Wall, caused the collapse of Communism. Crowds of Germans dismantled the Berlin Wall, and elections in Poland brought the Solidarity trade union into power. NASA’s Galileo spacecraft was launched. In Alaska’s Prince William Sound, the Exxon Valdez spilled 240,000 barrels (eleven million gallons) of oil after running aground. A British scientist invented the World Wide Web. The world was first introduced to the Energizer Bunny, dancing California Raisins, Fruit Roll-Ups, and the Simpsons . The average cost of a new house was $120,000 and a gallon of gasoline was 97 cents.

Above: The lab’s fiftieth anniversary included a visit by President George H. W. Bush. (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

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