The Legacy of Oppenheimer - Part 3

What are the ties between the University of California and the nuclear program of the United States??

Next will be: why was it that it was the Department of Energy that initiated the Human Genome Project?

J. Robert Oppenheimer received an academic appointment at the University of California, ?Berkeley in 1928 (with a co-appointment at CalTech).?At Berkeley, he joined a team of first rate scientists that included Ernest Lawrence who was building and running cyclotrons.?(These were called “atom smashers” in the cartoons of my youth).?This became a powerful combination, teaming top theorists and top experimentalists. Although there were many other members of the team, including Glenn Seaborg, and Berkeley became a magnet for attracting young talent.??

Luis W. Alvarez, winner of the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physics ( also involved in the Manhattan project), said, "Lawrence will always be remembered as the inventor of the cyclotron, but more importantly, he should be remembered as the inventor of the modern way of doing science." Lawrence revolutionized putting together a large team to tackle research large subjects, rather than the lone wolf approach to research.?

This legacy, and others, led to the parking lot set aside for Nobel Laureates at UC Berkeley.?This is either charming or pretentious depending on who you talk with. ?????

This talent, including Oppenheimer, formed the core of the scientific team at Los Alamos that achieved the “success” of producing an atom bomb.?The periodic table reflects their success with the names of the elements:?

Americium?????????????????????????????Atomic Number 95 (discovered by a Berkeley team relocated during the war to the University of Chicago)

Californium ??????????????????????????Atomic Number 98????????????????

Berkelium ????????????????????????????Atomic Number 97

I’ve forgotten where I heard this anecdote, but someone once told me that there was a joke where they planned to name newly discovered elements in the following order: ?Universium Ofium Californium Berkelium but changed their minds because they thought that someone might sneak in Chicagoium after the discovery of Ofium.?

The old site, up the hill from the main campus, now hosts Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory – funded with oversight by the Department of Energy but still operated by the University of California.?https://www.lbl.gov/ Research there has garnered 16 Nobel prizes.?And new elements were named after famous scientists (and an industrialist):?

Curium???????????????????????????????????Atomic Number 96 (discovered by a Berkeley team at Chicago)

Einsteinium????????????????????????????Atomic Number 99

Nobelium???????????????????????????????Atomic Number 102

Mendelevium?????????????????????????Atomic Number 101

Fermium????????????????????????????????Atomic Number 100

???????????And later after scientists from the lab itself:?

Lawrencium ?????????????????????????Atomic Number 103

Seaborgium ??????????????????????????Atomic Number 106

The national laboratories (including Los Alamos, the site of the Manhattan Project) are operated administered through the University of California, and when I toured Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory the University of California police conducted the security check.?(You can imagine that security is pretty tight at the site that holds the nuclear secrets of the United States.)

I was there to see the National Ignition Facility, the spherical bank of lasers designed to focus their energy on a single “target” during “the shot.”?

https://www.youtube.com/embed/_5CisML8Q7I?rel=0

The Edward Teller Education Center hosted the visit.???Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has been honored with an element of its own.?

Livermorium ????????????????????????Atomic Number 116

Because of the legacy of Oppenheimer and the story depicted in the film the University of California administers three of the National Laboratories:?Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Los Alamos National Laboratory.?

https://ucop.edu/laboratory-management/

As I travel the United States, when I identify myself from California, it’s pretty common for someone to make a snide comment about my state.?I joke to remind them not to insult California, “since we are in charge of the nukes.”?And besides, there’s a Californium – you can come talk to me if there’s ever a Texasium.?

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Jim DeKloe first attended Alfred Nobel Junior High School (Atomic Number 102) and then attended the inaugural class of Ernest O. Lawrence Junior High School (Atomic Number 103).?Glenn T. Seaborg (Atomic Number 106) spoke at the dedication of the school when it opened.?

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