Notable people Manhattan Project •
Harold Agnew, physicist and third director of Los Alamos National Laboratory (1970-1979) •
Luis Alvarez, nuclear physicist •
Kenneth Bainbridge, physicist and director of the
Trinity nuclear test •
Robert Bacher, nuclear physicist •
Hans Bethe, German-American nuclear physicist, awarded 1967
Nobel Prize in Physics •
Niels Bohr, Danish nuclear physicist, awarded 1922
Nobel Prize in Physics •
Norris Bradbury, physicist and second director of Los Alamos National Laboratory (1945-1970). He remained in Los Alamos for the rest of his life. •
Hugh Bradner, physicist researching shaped charges for implosive devices. In later years he developed the first
neoprene wetsuit. •
Egon Bretscher, Swiss-born British chemist and nuclear physicist. •
John Williams Calkin, mathematician, worked on effects of shock waves. Returned to Los Alamos 1949-1958 to work on development of the H-bomb. •
James Chadwick, British physicist and recipient of the 1935 Nobel Prize in Physics for
discovery of the neutron. •
George Cowan, physical chemist, businessman and philanthropist, participated in founding the
Santa Fe Opera; remained in Los Alamos for the rest of his life. •
Charles Critchfield, mathematical physicist. Returned to Los Alamos in 1961 and remained there for the rest of his life. •
Harry Daghlian, physicist, died from
radiation poisoning at Los Alamos in September 1945. •
Enrico Fermi, Italian-American theoretical and experimental physicist, has been called "architect of the nuclear age." •
Val Fitch, nuclear physicist and recipient of the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physics. •
Richard Feynman, theoretical physicist, awarded 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics, shared with
Shin'ichirō Tomonaga and
Julian Schwinger •
Max Flatow, Architectural Superintendent of Construction for Los Alamos, later established New Mexico's largest architectural firm. •
Stan Frankel, mathematician and later computer scientist, who helped develop computational techniques used in nuclear research. •
David H. Frisch , American physicist who later became active in the disarmament movement. •
Otto Robert Frisch, Austrian-born British physicist who designed the first theoretical mechanism for the detonation of an atomic bomb. •
Darol Froman, physicist and later deputy director of LANL; remained in Los Alamos for the rest of his life. •
Klaus Fuchs, German theoretical physicist and later
atomic spy who supplied information to the
Soviet Union. •
Alvin C. and
Elizabeth Riddle Graves, husband and wife physicists. Remained in Los Alamos for the rest of their lives. •
David Greenglass, machinist 1944-1946, was an
atomic spy for the Soviet Union. • General
Leslie Groves, military commander of the Manhattan Project. •
Theodore Hall, physicist 1943-1945, was an
atomic spy for the Soviet Union. •
David Hawkins, administrative assistant to Oppenheimer, and later philosopher known for the
Hawkins–Simon theorem. •
Joan Hinton, one of the few female scientists who worked for the Manhattan Project. •
Donald and
Lilli Hornig, husband and Czech-born wife, both chemists. He later served as president of
Brown University from 1970 to 1976. •
Joseph W. Kennedy, chemist and co-discoverer of
plutonium, later chairman of the department of chemistry at
Washington University in St. Louis. •
George Kistiakowsky, chemist and designer of shaped implosive charges. He was also an avid skier who used implosive rings to fell trees for development of the Sawyer's Hill ski area near Los Alamos. •
Emil Konopinski, American physicist of Polish descent, worked with Edward Teller. •
John Henry Manley, physicist and later executive secretary of the general advisory committee for the
AEC. Returned to Los Alamos and remained there for the rest of his life. •
J. Carson Mark, Canadian mathematician, joined the Manhattan Project in 1945 and was involved with development of
thermonuclear weapons. He remained in Los Alamos for the rest of his life. •
Maria Goeppert Mayer, German–American
theoretical physicist who shared the 1963
Nobel Prize in Physics with
J. Hans D. Jensen and
Eugene Wigner. •
Joseph Laws McKibben, physicist and engineer; designer of the
air muscle. Remained in Los Alamos for the rest of his life. •
Edwin McMillan, physicist and recipient of the 1951 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. •
Nicholas Metropolis, Greek-American physicist and computer pioneer. Returned to Los Alamos in 1948 and again in 1965, remaining there for the rest of his life. •
Seth Neddermeyer, co-discoverer of the
muon, and who later championed the
implosion-type nuclear weapon to Oppenheimer. •
James Findley Nolan, obstetrician and gynecologist who was the head of the medical group at the Manhattan Project. •
J. Robert Oppenheimer, theoretical physicist and first director of the Los Alamos Laboratory. •
Deak Parsons, Navy Captain (later Rear Admiral); Robert Oppenheimer's second in command. •
Rudolf Peierls, German-born British physicist. •
Frederick Reines, theoretical physicist, awarded 1995 Nobel Prize in Physics •
Robert D. Richtmyer, mathematician •
Louis Rosen, physicist who led the development of the
Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. Remained in Los Alamos for the rest of his life. •
Bruno Rossi, Italian-American experimental physicist, who developed diagnostic instruments for development of the atomic bomb. •
Raemer Schreiber, physicist and later deputy director of the Laboratory. Remained in Los Alamos for the rest of his life. •
Oscar Seborer,
seismologist 1943-1945, present at the
Trinity nuclear test, was an
atomic spy for the Soviet Union. •
Emilio Segrè, Italian physicist and recipient of the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physics. •
Robert and
Charlotte Serber, husband (physicist) and wife (technical librarian). •
Louis Slotin, physicist and chemist; died from radiation poisoning at Los Alamos in May 1946. •
Cyril Stanley Smith, British
metallurgist, later founded the
James Franck Institute at the
University of Chicago. •
Edward Teller, Hungarian-American theoretical physicist sometimes called "father of the hydrogen bomb." •
James L. Tuck, British physicist specializing in
shaped charges. Returned to Los Alamos in 1949, researching
thermonuclear fusion for power generation, for which he developed the
Perhapsatron. Retired from LANL in 1972 but remained in Los Alamos for the rest of his life. •
Stanislaw Ulam, Polish-American mathematician. Remained a consultant with LANL for many years after the Manhattan Project, with a home in nearby Santa Fe with his wife
Françoise for the rest of his life. •
John von Neumann, Hungarian-American mathematician and physicist, a frequent non-resident visitor working with Stan Ulam. •
Bernard Waldman, physicist who flew on the
Hiroshima bombing mission as a cameraman; later dean of the
University of Notre Dame's College of Science. •
Robert R. Wilson, physicist and a developer of the
cyclotron.
1945 onward •
George Irving Bell, physicist, biophysicist, mountaineer—worked at Los Alamos •
Irene Beyerlein, materials scientist, born in Los Alamos, and
J. R. Oppenheimer Fellow at the Los Alamos National Laboratory •
Sterling Foster Black, lawyer and state senator. •
Judy Blume, author of many books for children and adults, lived in Los Alamos from 1975 to 1978 and set her novel
Tiger Eyes there •
Clayborne Carson, civil rights activist and professor of history at
Stanford University, grew up in Los Alamos •
Susann Cokal, award-winning writer, attended junior and senior high school in Los Alamos •
Stirling Colgate, physicist, worked at Los Alamos, member of the last graduating class from the Los Alamos Ranch School •
Michael Creutz, physicist, born in Los Alamos •
Mitchell Feigenbaum, chaos theorist •
James Glimm, American mathematician and physicist, founder of
constructive quantum field theory, winner of
National Medal of Science, and researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory. •
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, former president of
Croatia (2015-2020); graduated from Los Alamos High School in 1986 •
Brooke Green, member of the
Idaho House of Representatives •
Michelle Lujan Grisham, current governor of New Mexico and former U.S. congresswoman, born in Los Alamos •
Ed Grothus, machinist and technician at LANL, later peace and anti-nuclear activist and proprietor of the Los Alamos Sales Company, known as "The Black Hole" •
Kevin R. Johnson, former CEO of
Starbucks and
Juniper Networks, former Group VP at
Microsoft; graduated from Los Alamos High School in 1978 •
Vernon Kerr; scientist and politician •
Bette Korber,
computational biologist at LANL, focusing on
molecular biology and population genetics of the HIV virus. •
Tom Lehrer, musician, singer-songwriter, satirist and mathematician, worked briefly as a researcher with
Stan Ulam in 1952. •
Howard O. McMahon, Canadian-born American
electrical engineer, inventor of the
Gifford-McMahon cryocooler, worked in Los Alamos during development of the H-bomb. •
Jack Roland Murphy, jewel thief, briefly a Los Alamos resident as a child. •
John Pasta, an American computational physicist known for the
Fermi–Pasta–Ulam–Tsingou experiment. •
Mary Tsingou, American physicist and mathematician of Greek-Bulgarian descent, was one of the first programmers on the
MANIAC computer. •
Alexandr Wang, AI entrepreneur, born in Los Alamos and graduated from Los Alamos High School •
Emily Willbanks, scientist who made advances in the fields of mathematics, computing, and data systems for defense weapons and high-performance storage systems. Remained in Los Alamos for the rest of her life.
Sports and recreation Los Alamos's geography lends itself to several sports and recreational activities. There is an extensive system of trails in the canyons and into the mountains above the town, catering to all skill levels of running, hiking and
mountain biking. The Aquatic Center is an indoor, Olympic-length public swimming pool with a therapy pool and lazy river. A public 18-hole golf course (par 72, 6500 yards) has existed since 1947. Winter sports include skiing at the community-owned
Pajarito Mountain Ski Area on 10,440 ft. Pajarito Mountain between November and April. The county maintains New Mexico's only refrigerated,
NHL regulation, outdoor
ice skating rink on the sun-shaded floor of Los Alamos Canyon, almost beneath the Omega Bridge; the rink has existed since the Ranch School days.
Snowshoeing and
cross-country skiing are possible at
Valles Caldera National Preserve and other locations, weather permitting. Los Alamos hosts several sporting events: • Tour de Los Alamos (road cycling race) • Pajarito Punishment (mountain-biking race) • Los Alamos Triathlon (Los Alamos Junior Triathlon) • Jemez Mountain Trail Run In 2015, the
National Park Service and the U.S.
Department of Energy announced the establishment of
Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Los Alamos, along with units in
Hanford, Washington and
Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
In popular culture Film • Director
Christopher Nolan shot scenes from
Oppenheimer in Los Alamos in March 2022, filming at locations including the historic Fuller Lodge, Oppenheimer's house, Civilian's Women's Dormitory, and United Church. The production sought approximately 450 local background talent for the film, including real local scientists. • Ian Donnelly, a character played by
Jeremy Renner in the 2016 film
Arrival, is a theoretical physicist from Los Alamos. •
Tiger Eyes is a 2012 film based on
Judy Blume's 1981 young adult novel of the same name. This was the first major motion picture adaptation of any of Blume's books, which have sold more than 82 million copies in 41 countries. Several outdoor scenes were shot in and around Los Alamos. • The 1988 comedy
buddy film Twins begins in a genetics laboratory in Los Alamos, and revisits it later. It includes a few outdoor scenes in the city. •
The Atomic City is a 1952 American
film noir spy
thriller film about
H-bomb secrets that was the first
feature film shot in Los Alamos, during the period that the community was still closed to the public at large. Scenes include the East Gate and its tower (some inside the building), and documentary footage of laboratory interiors, with workers’ faces redacted. Filming was also done at the nearby
Puye Cliff Dwellings.
Television •
Manhattan, two series aired in 2014–15 about life in the city during Project Y. Not intended to be historically accurate but inspired by its history, with mostly fictional characters, though it does reference historical persons. ==Education==