Ask Me Anything

Eight explosives scientists took to the interwebs to field questions from the public about their careers, the Lab, and living in Los Alamos.

December 1, 2016

Many Los Alamos scientists love skiing at Pajarito Mountain. In the lodge, there are copies of the original documents that founded the ski area. The first petition was signed by none other than George Kistiakowsky, the Harvard chemist who led the explosives program during the Manhattan Project. Dues were paid and meetings attended by many other familiar names: Hans Bethe (pictured), Victor Weisskopf, Nicholas Metropolis, Seth Neddermeyer, Robert Oppenheimer, even Louis Slotin and Klaus Fuchs.

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Managing Editor
Clay Dillingham
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"The work is highly controlled, and most times I feel very safe. However, you can never, ever forget that you are working with explosives. You have to remember that you don’t know everything."

What’s the best part of the job?

Dana Dattelbaum: Learning something new about explosives that has never been known before. It is exciting to apply cutting-edge experimental tools to make in situ, time-resolved measurements on complex explosives assemblies. Our teams are well-trained, creative, and have diverse backgrounds to bring to a single problem.