Carnegie Atomic Physics Observatory

The Atomic Physics Observatory is located in the Carnegie Institution's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, a scientific research campus near Chevy Chase, Maryland. The APO was named and likewise designed to look like an astronomical observatory to not distress nearby neighbors. When it was built in 1938, it was one of the most powerful particle accelerators in the the world. It was soon used to confirm the nuclear fission of uranium, the discovery that directly lead to the atomic bomb. It is said that today it is mostly used to store garden tools.