Editing Los Alamos National Laboratory (section)

===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}}