Editing Los Alamos National Laboratory (section)

==History==

===The Manhattan Project===
{{Main|Project Y}}
The laboratory was founded during [[World War II]] as a secret, centralized facility to coordinate the scientific research of the [[Manhattan Project]], the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] project to develop the first [[nuclear weapon]]s.<ref>Force V: The history of Britain's airborne deterrent, by Andrew Brookes. Jane's Publishing Co Ltd; First Edition 1 Jan. 1982, {{ISBN|0710602383}}, p.2.</ref> In September 1942, the difficulties encountered in conducting preliminary studies on [[nuclear weapon]]s at universities scattered across the country indicated the need for a laboratory dedicated solely to that purpose.{{citation_needed|date=July 2019}}

General [[Leslie Groves]] wanted a central laboratory at an isolated location for safety, and to keep the scientists away from the populace. It should be at least 200 miles from international boundaries and west of the Mississippi. Major [[John H. Dudley|John Dudley]] suggested [[Oak City, Utah]], or [[Jemez Springs, New Mexico]], but both were rejected. Jemez Springs was only a short distance from the current site. Project Y director [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]] had spent much time in his youth in the New Mexico area and suggested the [[Los Alamos Ranch School]] on the [[mesa]]. Dudley had rejected the school as not meeting Groves' criteria, but as soon as Groves saw it he said in effect "This is the place".<ref>
{{cite book
|last=Rhodes
|first=Richard
|author-link=Richard Rhodes
|title=The making of the Atomic Bomb
|url=https://archive.org/details/makingofatomicbo00rhod
|url-access=registration
|pages=[https://archive.org/details/makingofatomicbo00rhod/page/449 449–451]
|year=1995
|publisher=Simon & Schuster
|location=London
|isbn=0-671-44133-7
}}</ref> Oppenheimer became the laboratory's first director; from 19 October 1942.

During the Manhattan Project, Los Alamos hosted thousands of employees, including many [[Nobel Prize]]-winning scientists. The location was a total secret. Its only mailing address was a post office box, number 1663, in [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]], New Mexico. Eventually two other post office boxes were used, 180 and 1539, also in Santa Fe.<ref>
{{cite journal
|journal=Modern Postal History Journal
|issue=26
|year=1989
|pages=5–8
}}</ref> Though its contract with the [[University of California]] was initially intended to be temporary,{{Citation needed|date=January 2009}} the relationship was maintained long after the war. Until the [[atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]], [[Japan]], University of California president [[Robert Gordon Sproul|Robert Sproul]] did not know what the purpose of the laboratory was and thought it might be producing a "[[death ray]]".<ref>[http://cstms.berkeley.edu/archive/oppenheimer/exhibit/chapter3.html Cstms.berkeley.edu] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019071050/http://cstms.berkeley.edu/archive/oppenheimer/exhibit/chapter3.html |date=October 19, 2013 }}</ref> The only member of the UC administration who knew its true purpose—indeed, the only one who knew its exact physical location—was the Secretary-Treasurer Robert Underhill (younger brother of Marine Corps general [[James L. Underhill|James Underhill]] and Army colonel Lewis Underhill), who was in charge of wartime contracts and liabilities. He first visited the site in mid-March 1943 and was informed of the project objective by [[Ernest Lawrence]] in November 1943.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xy51EAAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PT176 |title=Racing for the Bomb: The True Story of General Leslie R. Groves, the Man behind the Birth of the Atomic Age |first=Robert S. |last=Norris |date=October 21, 2014 |page=176 |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |location=New York, New York |isbn=1-63220-101-1 |access-date=May 12, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0CwcdVK8-NIC&pg=PA98 |title=Lewis King Underhill |first=Joe |last=Viner |date=Spring 1972 |volume=XXXI |issue=1 |pages=98–99 |magazine=Assembly |access-date=May 12, 2025}}</ref>

[[File:Trinity Test Fireball 16ms.jpg|left|thumb|The first stages of the explosion of the [[Trinity (nuclear test)|Trinity nuclear test]]]]
The work of the laboratory culminated in several atomic devices, one of which was used in the first [[nuclear testing|nuclear test]] near [[Alamogordo, New Mexico]], codenamed "[[Trinity (nuclear test)|Trinity]]", on July 16, 1945. The other two were weapons, "[[Little Boy]]" and "[[Fat Man]]", which were used in the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Laboratory received the [[Army-Navy "E" Award]] for Excellence in production on October 16, 1945.{{citation_needed|date=July 2019}}

===Post-war===
After the war, Oppenheimer retired from the directorship, and it was taken over by [[Norris Bradbury]], whose initial mission was to make the previously hand-assembled atomic bombs "G.I. proof" so that they could be mass-produced and used without the assistance of highly trained scientists. Other founding members of Los Alamos left the laboratory and became outspoken opponents to the further development of nuclear weapons.{{citation_needed|date=July 2019}}

The name officially changed to the '''Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory''' ('''LASL''') on January 1, 1947. By this time, [[Argonne National Laboratory|Argonne]] had already been made the first National Laboratory the previous year. Los Alamos would not become a National Laboratory in name until 1981.<ref>{{cite book |title= Plans and Practices for Groundwater Protection at the Los Alamos National Laboratory |publisher= National Research Council |page=5 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=smObAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT5|isbn= 9780309106191 |date= October 18, 2007 }}</ref>

In the years since the 1940s, Los Alamos was responsible for the development of the [[hydrogen bomb]], and many other variants of nuclear weapons. In 1952, [[Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]] was founded to act as Los Alamos' "competitor", with the hope that two laboratories for the design of nuclear weapons would spur innovation. Los Alamos and Livermore served as the primary classified laboratories in the U.S. national laboratory system, designing all the country's nuclear arsenal. Additional work included basic scientific research, [[particle accelerator]] development, health physics, and fusion power research as part of [[Project Sherwood]]. Many nuclear tests were undertaken in the [[Marshall Islands]] and at the [[Nevada Test Site]]. During the late-1950s, a number of scientists including [[John Robert Beyster|Dr. J. Robert "Bob" Beyster]] left Los Alamos to work for [[General Atomics]] (GA) in [[San Diego]].<ref>
{{cite book
|first1=Robert J, Dr
|last1=Beyster
|first2=Peter
|last2=Economy
|title=The SAIC Solution: How We Built an $8 Billion Employee-Owned Technology Company
|publisher=John Wiley & Sons
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kekRLBk7sN4C&pg=PP1
|year=2007
|page=[https://archive.org/details/saicsolutionhoww00beys/page/192 192]
|isbn=9780470139318
}}</ref>

Three major nuclear-related accidents have occurred at LANL. [[Criticality accident]]s occurred in August 1945 and May 1946, and a third accident occurred during an annual physical inventory in December 1958.<ref name=unsc>{{cite web |url=http://www.unscear.org/docs/reports/2008/11-80076_Report_2008_Annex_C.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.unscear.org/docs/reports/2008/11-80076_Report_2008_Annex_C.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Sources and Effects of Ionizing Radiation – 2008 Report to the General Assembly |volume=II Scientific Annexes C, D, and E – Annex C: Radiation exposures in accidents |website=[[United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation]] |pages=2–3 |year=2011}}</ref>

Several buildings associated with the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos were declared a [[National Historic Landmark]] in 1965.<ref name="nhlsum"/><ref name="nrhpinv2">{{cite web |url={{NHLS url|id=66000893}} |format=pdf |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form / Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory |date=January 14, 1974 |first=Richard |last=Greenwood |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |access-date=June 21, 2009}}<br />{{cite web |url={{NHLS url|id=66000893|photos=y}} |title=Accompanying photos |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |access-date=December 18, 2012}}</ref>

===Post-Cold War===
At the end of the [[Cold War]], both labs went through a process of intense scientific diversification in their research programs to adapt to the changing political conditions that no longer required as much research towards developing new nuclear weapons and has led the lab to increase research for "non-war" science and technology. Los Alamos' nuclear work is currently thought to relate primarily to computer simulations and [[stockpile stewardship]]. The development of the [[Dual-Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test Facility]] will allow complex simulations of nuclear tests to take place without full explosive yields.{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}}

The laboratory contributed to the early development of the [[flow cytometry]] technology. In the 1950s, researcher Mack Fulwyler developed a technique for sorting [[erythrocytes]] that combined the Coulter Principle of [[Coulter counter]] technologies, which measures the presence of cells and their size, with ink jet technology, which produces a laminar flow of liquid that breaks up into separate, fine drops. In 1969, Los Alamos reported the first fluorescence detector apparatus, which accurately measured the number and size of ovarian cells and blood cells.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sYZuiy4BbvUC&q=flow+cytometry+principles&pg=PR7 | title=Flow Cytometry First Principles | first = Alice | last = Givan |page=6| isbn=9780471459118 | date=April 5, 2004 }}</ref>

As of 2017, other research performed at the lab included developing cheaper, cleaner biofuels and advancing scientific understanding around renewable energy.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Applied Energy Programs |url=https://www.lanl.gov/science-engineering/science-programs/applied-energy-programs |access-date=January 31, 2017 |website=Los Alamos National Laboratory}}</ref>

Non-nuclear [[national security]] and defense development is also a priority at the lab. This includes preventing outbreaks of deadly diseases by improving detection tools and the monitoring the effectiveness of the United States' [[vaccine]] distribution infrastructure. Additional advancements include the ASPECT airplane that can detect bio threats from the sky.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Los Alamos National Lab: National Security Science |url=https://www.lanl.gov/about/lab-agenda/biosecurity-preparedness |access-date=2019-10-24 |website=www.lanl.gov}}</ref>

====Medical work====
In 2008, development for a safer, more comfortable and accurate test for [[breast cancer]] was ongoing by scientists Lianjie Huang and Kenneth M. Hanson and collaborators. The new technique, called ultrasound-computed tomography (ultrasound CT), uses sound waves to accurately detect small tumors that traditional mammography cannot.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Huang|first1=Lianjie|last2=Hanson|first2=Kenneth M.|last3=Quan|first3=Youli|last4=Li|first4=Cuiping|last5=Duric|first5=Neb|editor2-first=Jan|editor2-last=d'Hooge|editor1-first=Stephen A|editor1-last=McAleavey|chapter=Globally optimized Fourier finite-difference method for ultrasound breast imaging|title=Medical Imaging 2008: Ultrasonic Imaging and Signal Processing |series=Proceedings of SPIE|volume=692007|pages=692007|doi=10.1117/12.771024|year=2008|s2cid=14509019}}</ref>

The lab has made intense efforts for [[humanitarian]] causes through its scientific research in medicine. In 2010, three vaccines for the [[Human Immunodeficiency Virus]] were being tested by lab scientist [[Bette Korber]] and her team. "These vaccines might finally deal a lethal blow to the [[HIV|AIDS virus]]", says Chang-Shung Tung, leader of the Lab's Theoretical Biology and Biophysics group.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lanl.gov/news/releases/hiv_vaccine_strategy_expands_immune_responses_news_release.html |title=HIV Vaccine Strategy Expands Immune Responses |first=Bette |last=Korber |date=March 3, 2010 |publisher=Los Alamos National Laboratory |access-date=January 12, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111021050027/http://www.lanl.gov/news/releases/hiv_vaccine_strategy_expands_immune_responses_news_release.html |archive-date=October 21, 2011 }}</ref>

====Negative publicity====
The laboratory has attracted negative publicity from a number of events. In 1999, Los Alamos scientist [[Wen Ho Lee]] was accused of 59 counts of mishandling classified information by downloading nuclear secrets—"weapons codes" used for computer simulations of nuclear weapons tests—to data tapes and removing them from the lab. After ten months in jail, Lee pleaded guilty to a single count of unauthorized possession of documents, but the other 58 were dismissed with an apology from U.S. District Judge [[James Aubrey Parker|James Parker]] for his incarceration.<ref>
{{cite web
|url=http://web.mit.edu/jmorzins/www/lee_parker_opinion.html
|title=United States of America vs. Wen Ho Lee transcript of Proceedings
|date=September 13, 2000
|access-date=December 18, 2012
}}</ref> Lee had been suspected for having shared U.S. nuclear secrets with [[China]], but investigators were never able to establish what Lee did with the downloaded data.<ref>
{{cite news
|url=http://www.edwardjayepstein.com/archived/wenholee.htm
|title=Wen Ho Lee
|first=Edward Jay
|last=Epstein
|author-link=Edward Jay Epstein
|work=[[Wall Street Journal]]
|date=January 16, 2002
|access-date=December 18, 2012
}}</ref>

In 2000, two computer hard drives containing classified data were announced to have gone missing from a secure area within the laboratory, but were later found behind a photocopier.<ref>{{cite news |last=Risen |first=James |date=17 June 2000 |title=Missing Nuclear Data Found Behind a Los Alamos Copier |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/17/us/missing-nuclear-data-found-behind-a-los-alamos-copier.html |work=The New York Times |location=New York City |access-date=14 October 2021}}</ref>