Rediscovered photographs of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s 1964 visit to LANL
National Security Research Center staff recently rediscovered a trove of images of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s last known visit to the Laboratory, tucked away among the NSRC’s collections of millions of classified and unclassified photographs and not seen for over thirty years. Oppenheimer, who served as our first Director from 1943–1945, led the United States’ successful wartime effort to develop the world’s first atomic weapons in just 27 months. He left the Lab shortly after World War II ended, but came back in May of 1964 to deliver a lecture about Niels Bohr at the Civic Auditorium (now Duane Smith Auditorium) and visit the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Museum (which would become the Bradbury Science Museum), as is captured in these photos.