Los Alamos National Laboratory
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 📍 Place
Contents 7
| Type | Place |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Los Alamos |
| On the Timeline | 12 events, 1951–2022 |
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is one of the US Department of Energy's 16 research laboratories, a short distance north-west of Santa Fe, New Mexico.[1] It was founded in 1943 as Project Y, the secret Manhattan Project laboratory that designed the first atomic bombs. It remains central to US nuclear weapons work, alongside broad civilian research.[1] In UFO history it was at the centre of the "green fireballs" of 1948–1949. Conferences held there led to the Air Force's Project Twinkle.[2][3] It also appears in many later claims about crash debris, bodies and secret study groups.[4][5][6][7]
The Manhattan Project
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By September 1942, scattered university research showed the need for one dedicated weapons laboratory. General Leslie Groves wanted an isolated site at least 200 miles from any border and west of the Mississippi.[1] J. Robert Oppenheimer, who knew New Mexico from his youth, suggested the Los Alamos Ranch School on a mesa. When Groves saw it he effectively said, "This is the place." Oppenheimer was director from 19 October 1942.[1] The site was a total secret, reachable by mail only through PO Box 1663 in Santa Fe. Even the University of California's president, whose institution held the contract, did not know its purpose.[1] The laboratory assembled the device for the Trinity test near Alamogordo on 16 July 1945, and the "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" bombs used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.[1]
Cold War
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Norris Bradbury succeeded Oppenheimer, with the job of making the hand-built bombs "G.I. proof" for mass production. The laboratory became the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory on 1 January 1947, and took the name National Laboratory only in 1981.[1] Under the "Super" programme, Edward Teller and Stanisław Ulam developed the first thermonuclear weapons, tested as Greenhouse George and Ivy Mike.[1] In 1952 Lawrence Livermore was founded as a rival design laboratory.[1] Los Alamos also helped originate supercomputing, nuclear fusion research and flow cytometry. The physicist Samuel T. Cohen is sometimes called the father of the neutron bomb.[1] There were criticality accidents in August 1945, May 1946 and December 1958.[1] Since the Cold War its weapons work has focused on stockpile stewardship using simulations rather than tests.[1]
Management
The University of California ran the laboratory from the start. In 2005 the contract went to Los Alamos National Security LLC, a UC–Bechtel partnership, and UC's direct involvement ended in 2006.[1] Since 1 November 2018 it has been run by Triad National Security, a joint venture of Battelle, the University of California and Texas A&M University.[1] Its annual budget is about $4.9 billion, and its property covers about 35 square miles.[1] The earlier version of this article gave a figure of more than 13,000 employees, which is not covered in the sources read here. Safety failures in 2011 and 2017, and some 2,000 contaminated dump sites on the property, have drawn criticism.[1]
The green fireballs
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From December 1948, pilots, scientists and security staff reported bright green fireballs over northern New Mexico, close to sensitive sites such as Los Alamos.[2] The University of New Mexico meteor expert Lincoln LaPaz saw one on 12 December 1948 and argued that it was not a conventional meteorite fall.[2] A February 1949 conference at Los Alamos, attended by Project Sign staff and scientists including Joseph Kaplan and Edward Teller, could not identify them.[2] A further conference there on 14 October 1949 concluded that the reports were not quantitative enough, and called for photography, triangulation and spectroscopy.[3] This led to Project Twinkle, whose camera stations in 1950–1951 recorded nothing conclusive. In August 1951 the OSI office at Kirtland said most of the reports it still received came from Los Alamos staff.[3] Twinkle's final report even mentioned a proposal that small emissive clouds from atomic installations might explain some sightings.[3] The timeline says the Air Force's science advisers recommended in 1952 that Twinkle, which studied phenomena at atomic sites, stay classified.[4]
Later claims
- 1977. According to the timeline, NASA's chief of ground operations safety wrote that "what could be a piece of a UFO" had been examined for over two months at Los Alamos.[5] See Carter request and NASA's UFO decision.
- 1985. A classified "Advanced Theoretical Physics" conference at BDM's secure facility reportedly included Los Alamos participants, according to Jacques Vallée.[6] In 2022 the former Los Alamos special projects manager Oke Shannon published his notes from the group. He also said staff had studied UFOs unofficially "at night", and had concluded by the mid-1980s that they were interdimensional.[7] See Advanced Theoretical Physics group and Oke Shannon and Los Alamos UAP interest.
- 1991. A retired nurse told Leonard Stringfield that unusual bodies were flown into the laboratory between 1945 and 1957. She thought they might have been victims of atomic tests.[8] See Los Alamos nurse claim.
- 2008. Bill Richardson said Los Alamos and the Defense Department refused his questions about a crash recovery at Roswell.[9] See Bill Richardson and the Roswell records.
- 2020. A source told the journalist Tim McMillan that the Atomic Energy Commission held UFO material as early as 1947. Eric Davis called the source "ill-informed".[10] See Atomic Energy Commission UFO materials claim.
Bob Lazar has also claimed to have worked at Los Alamos before his S-4 job. Los Alamos officials told the journalist George Knapp they had no record of his employment.[11] None of these claims has been confirmed.
On the UAP Timeline
- Anthony Mirarchi's challenge to the balloon explanation (27 February 1951) — The head of Project Twinkle tells reporters the Navy is misleading the public and real UAP show controlled motion.
- Project Twinkle kept classified (1952) (19 February 1952) — The Air Force's science advisers recommend keeping Project Twinkle, a UAP study at atomic sites, classified.
- Carter request and NASA's UFO decision (1977) (13 December 1977) — A NASA safety chief writes that a possible UFO fragment was studied at Los Alamos.
- Advanced Theoretical Physics group (20 May 1985) — A secure facility hosts a conference on whether UAP evidence supports a research program.
- SAIC electric propulsion study (1988) (April 1988) — SAIC studies electric propulsion for Edwards AFB.
- Bob Lazar goes public (15 May 1989) — Bob Lazar goes public, claiming he worked on alien craft at S-4 near Area 51.
- Los Alamos nurse claim (16 March 1991) — A retired nurse says bodies were flown into Los Alamos after the war.
- Bill Richardson and the Roswell records (28 June 2008) — Bill Richardson says Los Alamos and the Pentagon refused his questions about Roswell.
- Bill Uhouse (1 November 2013) — A retired Marine captain says he tested exotic aircraft and worked on alien technology.
- Atomic Energy Commission UFO materials claim (29 April 2020) — A journalist's source says the Atomic Energy Commission had UAP materials as early as 1947.
- Oke Shannon and Los Alamos UAP interest (24 September 2022) — A former Los Alamos manager says staff studied UAP unofficially.
- ATP meeting notes release (26 September 2022) — The former Los Alamos manager publishes notes from a 1985 advanced physics meeting.
References
- Los Alamos National Laboratory — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Green fireballs — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- L. Elterman, "Project Twinkle — Final Report" (27 Nov 1951), transcribed by Project 1947 · project1947.com · archived copy
- UAP timeline published with Michael Shellenberger's 2024 congressional testimony, entry for 19 February 1952 · oversight.house.gov
- UAP timeline (Shellenberger testimony), entry for 13 December 1977 · oversight.house.gov
- UAP timeline (Shellenberger testimony), entry for 20 May 1985 · oversight.house.gov
- UAP timeline (Shellenberger testimony), entries for 24 and 26 September 2022 · oversight.house.gov
- UAP timeline (Shellenberger testimony), entry for 16 March 1991 · oversight.house.gov
- UAP timeline (Shellenberger testimony), entry for 28 June 2008 · oversight.house.gov
- UAP timeline (Shellenberger testimony), entry for 29 April 2020 · oversight.house.gov
- Bob Lazar — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
Facts in this article are drawn in part from the Wikipedia articles “Los Alamos National Laboratory”, “Green fireballs”, “Bob Lazar”, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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