Physicists from the University of California, Davis, are taking a leading role in a new joint program between the United States and United Kingdom developing tools to help prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Tucked inside a modest building in the heart of the UC Davis campus, the Crocker Nuclear Laboratory opened in April 1966. Past and present employees recently gathered to celebrate the cyclotron’s five decades of discovery and innovation. During the event, historic photographs lined the walls of the lab’s tall cargo bay, and tours revealed atomic-era machinery still at work.