A Look Back

Carl Haussmann and John Emmett, working on lasers in 1973.
// A Look Back

Sixty years ago in 1960, at Hughes Aircraft Company in Malibu, California, Thomas Maiman fired his solid-state ruby laser, emitting humankind’s first coherent visible light.

Members of the nuclear clean-up crew at work near Thule Air Base, 1968.
// A Look Back

On Jan. 21, 1968, an aircraft accident involving a United States Air Force B-52 bomber occurred near Thule Air Base in the Danish territory of Greenland.

Livermore mechanical technicians pose in front of the gas recirculation plant they built, December 1967​​​​​​.​
// A Look Back

On Dec. 10, 1967, Project Gasbuggy was conducted in a sandstone gas-bearing formation in the San Juan Basin near Farmington, New Mexico.

Teller and Reagan
// A Look Back

In 1967, Ronald Reagan, former movie star and then newly-elected governor of California, visited the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory in Livermore, California to tour the facility and become more informed about major ongoing projects, including work on national defense.

B&W photo of men walking at Nevada Test Site
// A Look Back
On Sept. 19, 1957, the University of California Radiation Laboratory, Livermore detonated the first contained underground nuclear explosion, “Rainier,” into a long tunnel beneath a high mesa in the northwest corner of the Nevada Test Site.
Two men looking at screens
// A Look Back
In 1981, a select group of U.S. Army officers visited Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to ​​​​​​​participate in a series of nuclear wargames unlike any conducted.
Livermore physicist Nicholas Christofilos describes Operation Argus.
// A Look Back
In 1958, the United States conducted a set of nuclear tests, codenamed ARGUS, to determine whether they could interfere with communications and weapons performance.
Artist's conception of a nuclear-excavated canal
// A Look Back
“Project Dugout” was intended to explore the use of nuclear explosives for large-scale earth excavation projects, such as the creation of harbors and canals.
Harold Brown (right) and Edward Teller
// A Look Back
Physicist, former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Director Harold Brown left an indelible mark
Underground cavity formed by nuclear explosion
// A Look Back
The Atomic Energy Commission established the Plowshare Program in June 1957 to explore the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.