History Gallery

Most of our visitors begin their visit in the History Gallery to learn how Los Alamos National Laboratory began.

Statues of Dr. Robert Oppenheimer and General Leslie Groves, perhaps the two most famous personalities of the Manhattan Project, greet you as you enter the era that led to the development of the world's first atomic bomb. The impending conflict that darkened Europe in the late 1930s at first cast no shadow on the sunny Pajarito Plateau in northern New Mexico. But soon World War II shook the entire world. Los Alamos, once the site of a boys' ranch school, became the focus of secret efforts to develop an entirely new weapon, one that derived its power from the splitting of atomic nuclei.

The History Gallery features

• A time line above the display showing the world events that formed the background of the Manhattan Project
• Newspaper headlines announcing world events
• Videos that tell the story of life at Los Alamos before and during the Manhattan Project
• Photos, documents, and objects illustrating life in Los Alamos during the intense years when an international team of scientists raced to build the bomb.

To learn more about the Laboratory's history, see the 50th anniversary website.