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Laboratory’s 60th anniversary celebration begins April 7

An anniversary address by Interim Laboratory Director Pete Nanos, awarding of the Los Alamos Medal and a forum with four former Laboratory directors next Monday kicks off six months of celebrations of the Laboratory's 60th anniversary.

"In planning what is really an extended examination of our future, we've tried to schedule events that honor significant people and accomplishments, remember key points from our history and reach out to our neighbors in Northern New Mexico," said Dennis Erickson, co-chair of the Laboratory's 60th Anniversary Task Force.

Nanos said the variety of events, scientific lectures, conferences and workshops planned over the next several months will give Laboratory employees, and media representatives, a clear look at where the Laboratory is today, and where it is headed. Although the audience for many of the events is limited to Laboratory staff, and security and space limitations often preclude public invitations, Nanos said he hopes journalists take part in as many activities as possible so they can pass along to the public a picture of Los Alamos' rich tradition and strong future.

"This is in fact a time of great opportunity, just as it was six decades ago when the Laboratory was formed amid the uncertainty of World War II," Nanos said. "Los Alamos played a key role in the genealogy of modern science and technology, but we're not resting on our laurels."

The formal contract between the federal government and the University of California establishing the Laboratory was signed on April 20, 1943, although some historians point to March 6, 1943, the initial informal meeting of the scientific committee headed by Los Alamos' first director, J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Anniversary events begin with a special address by Nanos scheduled for 9 a.m. It is followed by a forum moderated by Nanos that includes former Laboratory directors Harold Agnew (1970-1979), Donald Kerr (1979-1985), Sig Hecker (1986-1997) and John Browne (1997-2003). Each will discuss his accomplishments and challenges as Laboratory director.

The media is invited to talk with the directors afterwards, at 11:30 a.m.

At 1:15 p.m., Laboratory Senior Fellow Emeritus George Cowan and Senior Fellow Emeritus Louis Rosen will be awarded the Los Alamos Medal for their decades of contributions to the Laboratory and their scientific and professional accomplishments (see Dec. 16, 2002 Daily Newsbulletin).

The following evening, April 8, the Los Alamos Historical Society will host the directors at a public forum in the Duane Smith Auditorium at Los Alamos High School. Additional information is available from the Historical Society at 662-6272, and tickets are on sale at the Historical Society Museum Shop next to Fuller Lodge downtown or at the door for $5 each.

Other events will follow throughout the next six months, focusing on the Laboratory's contributions to national security and its future missions and directions in science and technology.

"All of these activities are in keeping with the Laboratory's anniversary slogan 'Ideas that change the world,'" Erickson said.

The next major events will be April 22, when government officials and other friends of the Laboratory dedicate two major facilities — the Nonproliferation and International Security Center and the Dual Axis Radiographic Hydrotest facility — and break ground for the National Security Sciences Building, which will replace the current Administration Building in Technical Area 3.

A "Science Day" for Laboratory employees and the media is scheduled at the Laboratory for 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday, April 23, and will feature discussions of science-based prediction, astrophysics, genetics, explosives and actinide chemistry.

Among scheduled public events are a workshop on global climate and local drought in Santa Fe on the morning of April 23, a lecture on the Human Genome Project in Los Alamos the same evening and an evening lecture on black holes and the Milky Way galaxy scheduled for Los Alamos (April 29), Santa Fe (April 30), Albuquerque (May 7) and Taos (May 8).

Activities marking the 60th anniversary will continue through the summer and conclude in September with the publication of a special issue of Los Alamos Science magazine.

Schedules and general information about 60th anniversary activities are available at http://sixty.lanl.gov online. New events will be added to the event schedule frequently.

"Plan to join the Laboratory family and our communities in celebration during the coming weeks and months," task-force co-chairman Erickson added.

Major April Events (subject to change)

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