'My two great loves are physics and New Mexico'

Statues of two of the major players in the Manhattan Project, Robert Oppenheimer, left, and General Leslie Groves, stand by the Fuller Lodge in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
Highway Hasman photo

As a student of early Cold War history (from the 1940s until JFK's asssassination), I have always been fascinated with Robert Oppenheimer. 

He was, as the book title American Prometheus: The Triumphs and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer suggests, a man who experienced the highest of highs playing a pivotal role in helping put the atomic bomb together at Los Alamos and a fall from grace when he lost his security clearance due in large part to former Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Lewis Strauss's efforts to limit Oppenheimer's influence on national nuclear policy.

That said, this post is not about how I feel about what happened to Oppenheimer during his security hearing in 1954. Instead, I want to briefly look back at Sunday's 100-mile trip from Albuquerque to Los Alamos and appreciate some of the places that I saw. 

Oppenheimer and Bethe houses

New Mexico has always been a special place for Oppenheimer. 

"My two great loves are physics and New Mexico," he said. "It is a pity they can't be combined."

He had the best of both worlds for several years. He traveled on and off to his Perro Caliente Ranch in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains while he taught physics on the West Coast, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery that Los Alamos offered while helping his country in the war effort in World War II. 

A big treat during the recent trip to Los Alamos was standing outside the house Oppenheimer and his wife Kitty, and children Toni and Peter lived in off Bathtub Row. This was also where Robert and Kitty hosted many martini-filled parties for the other scientists.

The Los Alamos History Museum now owns the building and visitors are not allowed inside as work is being done. However, they are able to photograph the exterior of the house that was used in the filming of Oppenheimer.

Here is the house where Robert Oppenheimer stayed during his years at Los Alamos. It was also one of the filming locations for Oppenheimer.
Highway Hasman photo

Built in 1929, the house once served as the Los Alamos Ranch School before the federal government took it over for the Manhattan Project. 

Most project workers lived in government-built housing, which had showers instead of bathtubs because the iron used for the lining in tubs was needed for the war effort. Oppenheimer and his family were among the lucky few at Los Alamos who had bathtubs.

Another person who enjoyed that luxury was fellow scientist, Hans Bethe, who lived next door with his wife Rose in what is also part of the Los Alamos History Museum.

The Bethes moved to the United States years before to avoid anti-Semetic persecution in Nazi Germany. While working at Cornell University, Bethe became known for his confidence and energetic attitude. Oppenheimer believed adding Bethe to the Project Y team at Los Alamos would convince other scientists to join, and Oppenheimer thought Rose could help organize the housing and community at Los Alamos, according to the National Park Service.

From the Bethe House check out the rest of Bathtub Row, which includes the Power House, which originally housed the electrical generator of the Los Alamos Ranch House, the history museum, and the Fuller Lodge, which served as the dining hall for the ranch school and was a community center for Manhattan Project workers.

Just a few minutes away from the lodge is Ashley Pond, named after the founder of the Los Alamos Ranch School. 

In early 1943, when the school was taken over for the Manhattan Project, the Technical Area, known as TA-1, was built around the south side of Ashley Pond. The water was a safeguard in case of fire in the wooden buildings that comprised much of the wartime laboratory.

Visitors get to relax and enjoy some tranquility at Ashley Pond.
Highway Hasman photo

A trip to the museum

Before leaving Los Alamos stop inside the Bradbury Science Museum. 

In 1953, Robert Krohn, who was in charge of early nuclear tests at what was then known as Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, decided the lab needed a museum to house historical weapons and research artifacts. He convinced Norris Bradbury, who replaced Oppenheimer as lab director, that a museum would preserve the lab's history and provide a place for visitors to learn about its weapon programs.

An old ice house on the bank of Ashley Pond served as the first museum when it opened in 1954. But museum kept adding on (including unclassified exhibits tracing the development of the town and lab) and would move a couple of times before finding its current home in downtown Los Alamos in 1987.

Stop by the Bradbury Museum for a lesson on atomic history.
Highway Hasman photo

The museum is filled with interesting nuclear-related history including replicas of the "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" that were used to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, as well as a Mitchell 35mm camera that filmed the Trinity test between San Antonio and Alamogordo, New Mexico.

With all this material and history tattooed into me it was time to go back to Albuquerque and finish American Prometheus and watch Oppenheimer, which by the way was an excellent movie.