World War II role of Oak Ridge National Lab featured in second 70th anniversary lecture
Calutron Girls shown operating the electromagnetic separation units (Calutrons). Gladys Owens is on the right. She said hair pins would fly out of her hair and stick to the equipment because of the high level of magnetism in the room.
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Shared national security mission with Los Alamos highlighted
LOS ALAMOS, NEW MEXICO, February 4, 2013—Los Alamos National Laboratory continues its 70th anniversary lecture series at the Bradbury Science Museum at 5:30 p.m., Feb. 13 with a talk by Y-12 National Security Complex historian Ray Smith about that laboratory’s role during World War II and the shared national security mission with Los Alamos that continues today.
Smith has worked at the Tennessee facility since 1970, becoming its official historian in 2005. Soon after assuming this role he led the first-ever public tours of selected Y-12 National Security Complex historic buildings and began facilitating the creation of a formal Y-12 history center that opened in 2007. Initially at Y-12 Smith was an electronics technician. Subsequently he supervised craft workers that maintained nuclear weapons production facilities. From 1994 through 1999, Smith served as associate director of the site’s facilities management organization.
A U.S. Air Force veteran, Smith completed Air Force Technical School training in electronics and attended the University of Tennessee. He holds a certificate from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business and is a member of five historical societies.
Bradbury Science Museum is located at 1350 Central Ave., in downtown Los Alamos. All events at the Bradbury Science Museum are free and open to the public. Seating is limited to the first 100 attendees so interested parties should arrive early.
Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m., Sunday and Monday.
About the Los Alamos 70th anniversary lecture series
Throughout 2013, Los Alamos National Laboratory will be celebrating its 70th anniversary of service to the nation. This free lecture series is a part of a number of activities planned to mark the anniversary.
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People
Total employees,
10,402
Los Alamos National Security, LLC, 6,929
SOC Los Alamos (Guard Force), 396
Contractors, 349
Students, 889
Post doctoral researchers, 427
Place
Located 35 miles northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, on 36 square miles of DOE-owned property.
More than 2,000 individual facilities, including 47 technical areas with 8 million square feet under roof.
Replacement value of $9.8 billion
Budget
FY 2012: Approx. $2.2 billion
—57% Weapons programs
—9% Nonproliferation programs
—7% Safeguards and Security
—8% Environmental Management
—4% DOE Office of Science
—4% Energy and other programs
—11% Work for Others
Workforce Demographics
(LANS and students only)
34% of employees live in Los Alamos, the remainder commute from Santa Fe, Española, Taos, and Albuquerque.
Average Age: 46
—67%
male, 33% female
—44% minorities
—67% university degrees
—26% hold undergraduate degrees
—18% hold master’s degrees
—23% have earned a PhD
Major Awards
124 R&D100 awards since 1978
31 E.O. Lawrence Awards
The Seaborg Medal
The Edward Teller Medal
The Nobel Prize in Physics, Frederick Reines
98 miles; 1 hr, 51 min.
Driving directions
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About Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and URS for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.
Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.
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