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1952 | 1953 |
1954 | 1955 | 1956
| 1957 | 1958 | 1959
1959�E. O. Lawrence Awards Created
"Exceptional contributions to nuclear energy"
Established in November
1959 by President Eisenhower and John A. McCone, Chairman of the Atomic
Energy Commission, the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Memorial Award is presented
each year to scientists and engineers for their exceptional contributions
to the development, use, or control of nuclear energy. Nuclear energy
is broadly defined to include the science and technology of nuclear,
atomic, molecular, and particle interactions; and their effects.
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The E.O. Lawrence Award Medal and a $25,000 prize
is awarded each year to scientists and engineers for their exceptional
contributions to the development, use or control of nuclear energy.
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Researchers at Livermore have won 22 of the over 200 awards presented
to date. Today, the award consists of a medal and a $25,000 prize.
Laboratory recipients of the E.O. Lawrence Award include: Charles
R. Alcock (1996), E. Michael Campbell (1994), John D. Lindl (1994),
Richard J. Fortner (1991), Wayne J. Shotts (1990), Joe W. Gray (1986),
Thomas A. Weaver (1985), Peter L. Hagelstein (1984), Robert B. Laughlin
(1984), George B. Zimmerman (1983), George F. Chapline (1982), Lowell
L. Wood (1981), B. Grant Logan (1980), John L. Emmett (1977), William
A. Lokke (1975), Charles A. McDonald (1974), Seymour Sack (1973),
Thomas E. Wainwright (1973), Michael M. May (1970), John H. Nuckolls
(1969), Herbert F. York (1962), and John S. Foster, Jr. (1960).
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[Top]
1958�Test Moratorium
"Providing Technical Support for Arms Control"
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Khrushchev delivering a speech during the reception
in the Kremlin's Georgian Hall following the formal signing of the
Limited Test Ban Treaty on August 5, 1963. Adlai Stevenson is visible
on right. Photo courtesy of Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory.
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In July and August 1958, E.O. Lawrence and Harold Brown attended
the Conference of Experts held in Geneva to examine how a comprehensive
ban on nuclear testing could be verified. Their participation signaled
the beginning of the Laboratory's long history of providing technical
support for arms control negotiations and implementation. As his
final service to the nation, Lawrence was one of the three U.S.
representatives at the conference, where he suffered an acute attack
of colitis leading to his death. Brown was a member of the delegation's
technical advisory group. Many Livermore scientists would follow
in their footsteps by contributing their expertise to the negotiation
of nuclear arms reduction and nuclear test ban treaties.
Subsequently, President Eisenhower announced U.S. willingness to
suspend nuclear weapons testing and to begin negotiations on a comprehensive
test ban.
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| Concurrently, a feasible verification regime
was to be developed. Research activities on monitoring nuclear explosions
ensued at the Laboratory. What evolved was a worldwide network of
seismic stations that has been the primary source of data for the
seismic community for 40 years. |
[Top]
1957—Rainier
"The First Contained Underground Nuclear Test"
On September 19, 1957
the Laboratory detonated the first contained underground nuclear explosion,
RAINIER, in a tunnel at the Nevada Test Site. The idea for carrying
out such an explosion had been proposed early in 1956 by Dave Griggs,
a geophysicist who greatly contributed to Edward Teller�s effort
to establish a second nuclear laboratory while serving as Chief Scientist
of the Air Force, and by Teller. RAINIER gave a boost to the nascent
Plowshare Program to explore the peaceful use of nuclear explosives.
The test also affected the future of nuclear arms control and the
conduct of nuclear tests.
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Tunnels at the Nevada Test Site were used to
conduct contained underground nuclear tests, such as the RAINIER
event in 1957.
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| The RAINIER event was announced in advance
so that seismic stations throughout the U.S. and Canada could attempt
to record a signal. Post-shot radiochemistry analysis of collected
samples enabled scientists to develop the understanding of underground
explosion phenomenology that persists essentially unaltered today.
That information provided a basis for subsequent decisions in 1963
to agree to the Limited Test Ban Treaty, which banned atmospheric
nuclear weapons tests; and established systems, including an international
array of seismic detectors for monitoring nuclear test activities
worldwide. |
[Top]
1956—Polaris
"A Strategic Breakthrough"
In the summer of 1956, a Navy-sponsored
study was held at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Edward Teller attended
the study. His bold input would profoundly affect the future of strategic
deterrence, the Navy's Fleet Ballistic Missile program, and the Laboratory.
Teller discussed the feasibility of a one-megaton warhead small enough
to fit onto a torpedo.
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The Laboratory's W-47 Polaris warhead established
Livermore's reputation as a major nuclear weapons facility.
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When asked whether his ideas could be applied
to the Navy ballistic missile program, Teller replied with a question,
"Why use a 1958 warhead in a 1965 weapon system?"
He opened the door to a highly efficient deterrent system in which
16 compact missiles could fit vertically on a submarine. The Polaris
program began soon afterward as a crash program and rapidly achieved
its objective in 1960.
The summer of 1958 brought genuine breakthroughs at Livermore,
which were confirmed during tests in the Pacific only a few months
before the nuclear testing moratorium began. Work continued and
the W-47 Polaris warhead was created. The Laboratory�s innovative
design for the W-47 established Livermore's reputation as a major
nuclear weapons facility. The work also spurred additional innovations
and provided a model for future strategic weapon development.
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[Top]
1955—Nuclear Propulsion
"Flying Nuclear Reactors"
In 1955, the Laboratory initiated work
on nuclear propulsion and then shifted attention in 1957 to Project
Pluto—a nuclear ramjet engine for low-flying, supersonic cruise
missiles that could stay aloft for many hours. The project was a severe
technical challenge. Chemists and materials scientists had to devise
mass-producible ceramic fuel elements that could meet stressing operating
conditions. Testing the reactors required novel remote-handling technologies,
as well as systems capable of ramming about a ton of heated air through
the reactor each second.
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The Tory II-C, which generated 600 megawatts,
was tested at the Nevada Test Site.
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In 1961, Livermore successfully tested the Tory II-A reactor at
the Nevada Test Site. Tory II-C, which generated 600 megawatts (about
half the power capacity of Hoover Dam), was tested three years later.
All six tests of the reactors were conducted without failure; however,
the lack of a firm commitment from the military halted the project.
Laboratory expertise in fission energy and the nuclear fuel cycle
has continued to find many applications—from the operation
of experimental reactors until 1980 to current projects for government
and industry. These efforts help to protect public health and safety,
and advance the underlying technologies.
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[Top]
1954—The IBM 701
"Speed Is the Game"
With delivery of the IBM 701 in 1954, the
Laboratory dramatically improved its capability to perform scientific
calculations. The machine was 12 times faster than its predecessor,
the Univac-1, which the Laboratory acquired during its first year
of operation. The Univac-1 was used to predict Eisenhower's landslide
victory in the 1952 presidential election with only 7% of the vote
tallied, but Livermore's needs quickly outgrew the machine's capabilities.
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The IBM 701 computer was delivered to the Lab
in 1954 and was 12 times faster than its predecessor, the Univac-1.
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These machines marked the beginning of the
Lab's not-so-coincidental links to commercial supercomputing—and
the usage of machines to solve large, important, and complex problems.
As part of NNSA's Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative, Livermore
is home to the IBM ASCI White machine, the world's most powerful computer
in 2002. Terascale computing capabilities keep the Lab at the forefront
of scientific computing. They promise to help experts maintain the
nation�s nuclear deterrent and open many new avenues of scientific
discovery. |
[Top]
1953�RUTH
"Pushing the Frontiers of Science and Technology"
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RUTH, the Laboratory's first nuclear test, explored a new design
for fission devices that offered hope for smaller, more efficient
bombs and provided information about certain thermonuclear reactions.
The experiment exemplified Livermore's commitment to be a "new ideas"
laboratory. The device was mounted on a 300-ft steel tower, and
RUTH was fired on March 31, 1953�just six months after Livermore
opened. The test was a fizzle. But the Laboratory pressed ahead
in its quest for more compact weapon designs that were efficient
in their use of nuclear materials. The research led to the Laboratory's
first weapon-development assignments, including the W48 155-mm howitzer
atomic projectile and other tactical nuclear weapon systems.
Researchers at Livermore focused their thermonuclear work on the
design of H-bombs that were smaller in size and yield than those
of Los Alamos.
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The remains of the test tower after the first
device fielded by the Laboratory was detonated in 1953. The test
failed.
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| The first thermonuclear test in 1954, KOON,
was also a fizzle. Continuing efforts and future successes led to
Livermore's development of much smaller diameter "H-bomb" missile
warheads later in the 1950s, which made the Polaris submarine program
possible. |
[Top]
1952�The Lab Opens
"Team Science in the National Interest"
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The Livermore branch of the University of California
Radiation Laboratory opened on September 2, 1952 at a deactivated
Naval Air Station. Working conditions were primitive, with the staff
housed in old wooden buildings. Herb York, the first director, used
as his office the X-ray room in the infirmary building�it was
lead shielded and he could carry on classified discussions there
without being overheard.
Establishment of the Laboratory was triggered by detonation
of the first Russian atomic bomb in 1949 and fear of a quick Soviet
advance to the next step, the hydrogen bomb. Activities began with
a sketchy mission statement and a commitment by the staff to be
a "new ideas" laboratory.
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Opening in 1952, LLNL was a deactivated naval
air station.
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York established a matrix organization for
the Laboratory, a distinguishing feature of Livermore still in use
today. In this approach, experts in various relevant disciplines assemble
as a team and work together to understand and devise solutions to
complex problems. This way of pursuing research and development enables
the Laboratory to better reach its mission-directed technological
goals. And the rest is history. |
[Top]�
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