The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, originally named Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, is a United States Department of Energy National Laboratory operated by Stanford University under the programmatic direction of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. The SLAC research program spans astrophysics, photon science, particle physics, and accelerator R&D. SLAC is a world leader in the development of new techniques for the study of materials at the atomic and molecular scale, the study of energy and matter in the universe, and the study of the fundamental properties of particles and forces. The laboratory was founded in 1962 and is located in Menlo Park, California.