Ames Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in Ames, Iowa. Compared to most other DOE laboratories, it is small, employing about 500 people. It is located on the campus of Iowa State University.

History

The lab was started as part of the Manhattan Project. Its purpose was to produce high purity uranium from uranium ores. Frank Spedding lead the effort to develop the thermite process for this purpose. Most of the uranium used in the first self sustaining nuclear reaction at the University of Chicago was provided by this project.