Oppenheimer focus of symposium next week

Talks scheduled but no tour of Lab sites behind the fence

April 22 was the 100th birthday of Los Alamos' first director, J. Robert Oppenheimer. To mark this anniversary and celebrate the work of Oppenheimer and his Manhattan Project colleagues, a symposium is scheduled next week in Los Alamos. There also will be a dedication of the Oppenheimer House in downtown Los Alamos, but there will be no tour behind the fence at the Lab.

"Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project" on June 26 is a daylong series of talks and presentations about the man who led the nation's development of the atomic bomb working out of a secret installation on the Pajarito Plateau. Scheduled speakers include Richard Rhodes, who wrote "The Making of the Atomic Bomb," and "Dark Sun." Rhodes also will deliver the symposium's keynote address.

The Los Alamos Historical Society, a Laboratory sanctioned organization, is co-sponsoring the events in Fuller Lodge downtown and in the Duane Smith Auditorium at Los Alamos High School. Other sponsors include the Atomic Heritage Foundation. Preceding the symposium is the dedication on June 25 of the Oppenheimer House where Oppenheimer and his family lived -- the house was recently acquired by the Los Alamos Historical Society -- and a dinner at Fuller Lodge.

Gov. Bill Richardson is scheduled to attend and Laboratory Director G. Peter Nanos is scheduled to speak. New Mexico senators Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici are scheduled to attend on either Friday or Saturday. Nanos also is scheduled to take part in closing remarks at the symposium.

The cost to attend the Friday evening dinner is $65. The symposium on Saturday is $50 and there are additional costs to attend other events.

For more information, go to http://www.losalamos.com/Historicalsociety/ online. Additional information also is available by calling the Los Alamos Historical Society at 662-6272 or the Atomic Heritage Foundation at (202) 293-0045.

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