The Joint Institute for Heavy Ion Research (JIHIR) was created in the early 1980s as a joint venture of The University of Tennessee, Vanderbilt University, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, to advance interaction among nuclear physicists conducting research at the then-named ORNL Holifield Heavy Ion Research Facility. The Institute is managed by a three-person Policy Council with a representative from each institution.

The University of Tennessee, Vanderbilt University, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory dedicated JIHIR and its facilities on October 15, 1984. Housed in two buildings at ORNL, one of which was constructed by the state of Tennessee, JIHIR helped usher in a new era of unique cooperation between a national laboratory, a state government, and the state’s major research universities

In the early 1990s, JIHIR played a significant role in persuading the U.S. Congress and the Department of Energy to modify the Holifield facility, making it the nation's first radioactive ion-beam accelerator, capable of producing beams of sufficient energy to study radioactive nuclei far from the valley of beta stability. The newly named Holifield Radioactive Ion-Beam Facility (HRIBF) was dedicated in December 1996. A detailed history of the accelerator can be found on the Holifield history page (http://www.phy.ornl.gov/hribf/misc/history.shtml).

A Flier documenting JIHIR history available in 11x17 and 8.5x11 .pdf format.