Los Alamos, New Mexico

Toponym

Los Alamos is a Spanish place name that typically refers to poplar or cottonwood trees. Alternatively, Los Alamos could refer to the large groves of quaking aspen that intersperse the coniferous forest on the mountainsides above the townsite, where they are distinctly visible in the autumn due to their spectacular autumn colors.

History

The ruins of Puebloan settlements, such as those in nearby Bandelier National Monument and Tsankawi, and numerous other sites such as cliff dwellings indicate that the area has been inhabited during various eras since around 1150 AD. The first settlers on the plateau are thought to be Keres-speaking Native Americans around the 10th century. Around 1300, Tewa settlers immigrated from the Four Corners Region and built large cities but were driven out within 50 years by Navajo and Apache raids and by drought.

In the late 19th century, homesteaders used the land for ranching. About 1899, a road had been blasted up one of the canyons onto the Pajarito Plateau from Buckman (on the narrow-gauge Chili Line railroad) for the harvesting of timber, which in turn made the Plateau more accessible. Homesteaders built simple log cabins that they lived in only during warm weather to feed livestock. Many of the homesteaders later moved down to the warmer Rio Grande Valley. In 1917, homesteader Harold H. Brook sold part of his land and buildings to Ashley Pond II, a businessman from Detroit who founded the Los Alamos Ranch School. The area was used to teach young men basic ranching and other outdoor survival skills.

In 1943, during World War II, the United States Department of War exercised eminent domain over the Ranch School and all remaining homesteads in the area so that the relatively isolated location could be used for the secretive Manhattan Project, which developed the first nuclear weapons. Facilities for research and development were quickly built and scientists and engineers from all over the world were assigned to the project; all information about the town and project was held secret from the public. Los Alamos was referred to under the code name "Site Y" by military personnel and was known only as "The Hill" by many in nearby Santa Fe.

Los Alamos was originally built as a closed city accessible from the outside world only through two gates. The project's location was a tightly guarded secret. All employees recruited to work at Los Alamos were given a memorandum instructing them to travel to Santa Fe and report to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office at 109 East Palace Avenue. There, Dorothy McKibbin gave newcomers the necessary documentation to get through security checkpoints (initially, letters signed by J. Robert Oppenheimer, and later security passes), along with specific directions to the Hill. The project was further concealed by using the mailing address PO Box 1663, Santa Fe, N.M. All incoming truckloads were falsely labeled as common items to conceal the nature of their contents, and military officials censored outbound correspondence by those working and living in Los Alamos.

Not until after the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 was information about the Manhattan Project released to the public, announced by the White House at 11 am on 6 August. A set of press releases were given out over three days.

In the years after World War II, the laboratory was formally established as a research government facility under the civilian control of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, and is now known as Los Alamos National Laboratory. In 1957, the AEC pulled back the security perimeter to the laboratory and opened up the town to visits by the general public. The first visitor to enter the town that year without a permit from the federal government was New Mexico Governor Edwin L. Mechem. The AEC was later succeeded by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Los Alamos served as the setting for much of the 2023 film Oppenheimer, but mostly for interior scenes. The town's appearance had changed drastically since the 1940s, so the filmmakers arranged for the construction of a set based on 1940s-era Los Alamos at Ghost Ranch and filmed exterior scenes there.

Geography

Los Alamos is in northern New Mexico, between the Rio Grande and the eastern rim of the Valles Caldera on the Pajarito Plateau, about 35 mi northwest of Santa Fe. The elevation at the post office is 7320 feet and total land area is 11.14 sqmi.

The Los Alamos Townsite and White Rock are on flat mesa tops known as potreros, separated by steep canyons. This location was chosen for its relative inaccessibility to help protect the Manhattan Project's secrecy.

The town of Los Alamos was built on four potreros—Barranca Mesa, North Mesa, Los Alamos Mesa, and South Mesa—along with the connecting communities at the base of the mountain. Los Alamos National Laboratory occupies half of South Mesa, Two Mile Mesa, Frijoles Mesa, Mesita de Buey, and several nearby areas in the region (in the valleys and at the base of the mountain). White Rock lies at the top of White Rock Canyon.

Much of Los Alamos County is within the Española Ranger District of the Santa Fe National Forest.

Climate

Los Alamos has a humid continental climate (Dfb) with four distinct seasons. Summer days are moderately warm in the 70s°F (20s°C), but reach 90 °F (32 °C) on only 5 days per year on average.

|Jan record high F = 65 |Feb record high F = 69 |Mar record high F = 74 |Apr record high F = 80 |May record high F = 93 |Jun record high F = 96 |Jul record high F = 98 |Aug record high F = 92 |Sep record high F = 94 |Oct record high F = 82 |Nov record high F = 72 |Dec record high F = 64 |year record high F =

|Jan avg record high F = 51.9 |Feb avg record high F = 56.5 |Mar avg record high F = 66.9 |Apr avg record high F = 73.6 |May avg record high F = 81.3 |Jun avg record high F = 89.7 |Jul avg record high F = 90.2 |Aug avg record high F = 86.7 |Sep avg record high F = 82.7 |Oct avg record high F = 74.9 |Nov avg record high F = 62.5 |Dec avg record high F = 53.5 |year avg record high F = 91.7

|Jan avg record low F = 4.8 |Feb avg record low F = 7.5 |Mar avg record low F = 13.7 |Apr avg record low F = 21.4 |May avg record low F = 30.5 |Jun avg record low F = 42.0 |Jul avg record low F = 49.8 |Aug avg record low F = 48.1 |Sep avg record low F = 36.6 |Oct avg record low F = 22.3 |Nov avg record low F = 11.4 |Dec avg record low F = 3.6 |year avg record low F = 0.2

|Jan record low F = -18 |Feb record low F = -17 |Mar record low F = -3 |Apr record low F = 5 |May record low F = 22 |Jun record low F = 28 |Jul record low F = 37 |Aug record low F = 38 |Sep record low F = 23 |Oct record low F = 6 |Nov record low F = -14 |Dec record low F = -13 |year record low F =

Wildlife and vegetation

Los Alamos's wildlife and vegetation are diverse compared to surrounding areas. "The variation in elevation creates precipitation and temperature gradients that support a wide diversity of plant communities". There are six different plant communities in the county; each is home to unique flora and fauna.{{cite book

Black bears (brown-color variation), elk, mule deer, bobcats, gray foxes, skunks and chipmunks are examples of mammals living in the area.{{cite book

Wildfires

Wildfires have affected the county, but the most destructive to the townsite was the Cerro Grande Fire of 2000, which caused an estimated $1 billion in damages and destroyed more than 400 homes. The CDP was evacuated for eight days. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) built temporary housing on North Mesa for those who were displaced by the fire. Though there was no loss of life, other effects include damage to LANL facilities (nuclear material was not affected), flash-flooding, and erosion.

The Las Conchas Fire of 2011 burned about three times as many acres and also prompted evacuation of Los Alamos, but there was no damage to property in Los Alamos. It was the largest recorded wildfire in New Mexico until the Whitewater-Baldy complex fire in 2012.

Wildfires have altered plant communities in the area. Plant species are migrating to cover burn areas.

Environmental remediation

Over 2,000 sites in the area have been determined to have been affected by past activities at LANL. These sites have been identified throughout the county, and are primarily (but not exclusively) on DOE property. Contaminated sites vary widely in significance. Corrective action and environmental restoration has been deemed necessary for certain areas; LANL takes part in this process. Some residents have voiced concern about a lack of public participation and opportunity to comment on the cleanup schedule and funding.

Demographics

2020 census

The 2020 United States census counted 13,179 people, 5,653 households, and 3,522 families in Los Alamos. The racial makeup was 73.15% (9,640) white or European American (67.79% non-Hispanic white), 0.99% (131) black or African-American, 0.74% (98) Native American or Alaska Native, 7.96% (1,049) Asian, 0.09% (12) Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian, 3.95% (520) from other races, and 13.12% (1,729) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race was 17.35% (2,287) of the population.

Of the 5,653 households, 30.6% had children under the age of 18; 50.4% were married couples living together; 22.0% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. 32.4% of households consisted of individuals and 10.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The percent of those with a bachelor's degree or higher was estimated to be 50.6% of the population.

22.8% of the population was under the age of 18, 6.3% from 18 to 24, 27.5% from 25 to 44, 26.9% from 45 to 64, and 16.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.9 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older, there were 97.6 males.

The 2016-2020 5-year American Community Survey estimates show that the median household income was $114,034 (with a margin of error of +/- $9,349) and the median family income was $139,184 (+/- $15,168). Males had a median income of $83,875 (+/- $7,095) versus $57,000 (+/- $11,331) for females. The median income for those above 16 years old was $72,606 (+/- $8,291). Approximately, 3.2% of families and 4.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.2% of those under the age of 18 and 3.6% of those ages 65 or over.

2010 census

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 12,019 people with a population density of 1078.7 PD/sqmi. The median age is 40 years. 24.8% of the people are under the age of 18, 4.8% are ages 18 to 24, 29.2% are ages 25 to 44, 28.2% are ages 45 to 64, and 12.9% are ages 65 years or older. For every 100 females, there were 101.3 males. |1970|11310 |1980|11039 |1990|11455 |2000|11909 |2010|12019 |2020|13179

Race

Los Alamos is demographically unique compared to its surrounding counties and the state as a whole. Over 35% of the population of surrounding counties (Rio Arriba, Santa Fe, and Sandoval) and the state are Hispanic or Latino, while only about 20% of Los Alamosans are Hispanic or Latino. The white and especially the Asian populations of Los Alamos are significantly higher than in the rest of New Mexico.

Culture

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
• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• 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 for the rest of his life.
• John von Neumann, Hungarian-American mathematician and physicist, a frequent non-resident visitor working with Stan Ulam.
• 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.
• 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 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

Los Alamos Public Schools provides public Kindergarten through high school education (5 elementary schools, 1 middle school, and 1 high school: Los Alamos High School). The graduation rate, as of 2021, is 93.3%, in comparison to New Mexico's 76.9% rate and America's average rate of 85%.

The University of New Mexico has a branch campus in Los Alamos.

Economy

Los Alamos is the fifth-fastest-growing city in New Mexico, after Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Las Cruces, and Ruidoso.

Income and poverty

The median household income in Los Alamos is $98,458, and per capita income is $54,067. Income is significantly higher than the rest of New Mexico. This is a result of chemists, engineers, and physicists working at LANL since the Manhattan Project. Only 6.6% of people are below the poverty line, one-third the rate of New Mexico.

Families and housing

There are 5,249 households and an average household size of 2.23 people. There are 5,863 housing units, and the median value of owner-occupied housing units is $281,500. Median gross rent is $921.

31.4% of households have children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.4% are married couples living together, 6.5% have a female householder with no husband present, and 34.0% are non-families. 29.8% of all households are made up of individuals, and 7.6% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older.

Principal employers

Los Alamos National Laboratory is the area's largest employer with approximately 10,500 employees, and is foundational to Los Alamos's economy, with an annual budget of about $2.45 billion. About 40% of the laboratory's employees live in Los Alamos, while the remainder commute from Santa Fe, Española, Taos, and Albuquerque. About 66% of the people who work in the national laboratories commute daily to the lab; some take the Atomic City Transit, Rail Runner Express, use the Park and Ride, or carpool with other employees.

Other major employers in Los Alamos include Los Alamos County, Los Alamos Public Schools, Los Alamos Medical Center, Smith's Food and Drug, Enterprise Bank & Trust, and Del Norte Credit Union.

Transportation

Los Alamos provides several transportation services:

Roads

Los Alamos is relatively isolated, and can only be accessed from NM 4 from the south and NM 502 from the east.

NM 502 sees significantly more traffic because it connects with US 84/285, which delivers access to several Pueblo communities between Española and Santa Fe. Approximately 10,000 commuters use NM 502 daily. NM 502 begins at Pojoaque, and traverses San Ildefonso Pueblo and the Rio Grande.

Interstate 25 is the nearest major interstate highway, and passes through or near Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Denver.

There are three access roads between White Rock and Los Alamos—Main Hill Road (NM 502), Jemez Road, and Pajarito Road. Since the September 11 attacks, Pajarito Road has been restricted to LANL badge holders for security reasons.

Transit systems

• Atomic City Transit
• New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) Park-and-Ride
• North Central Regional Transit District (NCRTD)

Air

Los Alamos County Airport, on the town's eastern edge, is the county's only airport. The main source of activity is from small private aircraft, with intermittent commercial commuter service.

Santa Fe Regional Airport is a 43-mile drive south of Los Alamos and serves regional flights to Dallas/Ft Worth, Houston, Denver, and Phoenix.

Albuquerque International Sunport is a 100-mile drive south of Los Alamos, and serves most national destinations.

Health care

The 47-bed acute-care facility known as Los Alamos Medical Center is Los Alamos's only hospital and is a LifePoint Health hospital. The hospital provides "complete medical, surgical, obstetrical, pediatric, emergency, and diagnostic services" and employs about 300 Northern New Mexicans.

Medical Associates of Northern New Mexico (MANNM) is a group of medical providers that offers family medicine, internal medicine, cardiology, nephrology, radiology, and endocrinology among its many services.

During the Cold War, workers at LANL were in contact with radiation and other toxins, causing many of them illness. A nonprofit organization called Cold War Patriots provides these workers and their families with information about the healthcare benefits available to them.

VLBA node

alt=radio telescope dish silhouetted against a red sunset sky|thumb

The radio telescope in Los Alamos is one of ten dishes composing the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA).

City and regional partnerships

Sister city

Los Alamos maintains sister city status with:

• Russia Sarov (Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia)

Coworking

In 2016, a collaboration was initiated between the County of Los Alamos, the Los Alamos Commerce & Development Corporation, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory's Feynman Center for Innovation and Community Relations and Partnerships Office to open a private, nonprofit coworking space called ProjectY cowork Los Alamos, which helped create educational programs and resources for entrepreneurs and remote workers.

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