Los Alamos National Laboratory

Los Alamos National Laboratory is a U.S. Department of Energy research institution in New Mexico. Founded during World War II to design the first atomic bombs, it conducts research in nuclear security, energy, and other sciences.

Manhattan Project: A U.S.-led wartime program that developed the first nuclear weapons. Los Alamos was the project’s principal site for designing and assembling the bombs.
Nuclear weapons design: The engineering and physics work required to create nuclear explosive devices. Weapons design has been central to Los Alamos since its wartime founding.
Nuclear fusion: The joining of light atomic nuclei, releasing energy when the products are more tightly bound. Laboratory researchers investigate fusion physics and its potential as an energy source.
Hans Bethe: A German-American theoretical physicist who led the Los Alamos Theoretical Division during the Manhattan Project. Bethe guided wartime calculations and later became a prominent voice on nuclear policy.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: A U.S. Department of Energy laboratory in California focused on national security and scientific research. Founded in 1952, it became Los Alamos’s principal peer in nuclear weapons design.
J. Robert Oppenheimer: A theoretical physicist who directed the Los Alamos laboratory during the Manhattan Project. He organized the laboratory’s wartime scientific work.
Stockpile stewardship: A U.S. program for maintaining nuclear weapons without underground explosive testing. Los Alamos uses experiments and simulations to assess weapon reliability and safety.
Neutron science: The study and use of neutrons to probe materials and nuclear processes. Los Alamos operates neutron research facilities for materials science and national security.
Stanislaw Ulam: A Polish-American mathematician whose work contributed to the design of the hydrogen bomb and Monte Carlo methods. His ideas helped shape thermonuclear weapon design at Los Alamos.
Sandia National Laboratories: A U.S. Department of Energy laboratory specializing in engineering and national security systems. Sandia focuses more on weapon components and systems engineering than Los Alamos’s core design work.

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