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This showcase of military technology has operated for over thirty years at Kirtland Air Force Base. Funded primarily by the Department of Defense for military personnel, it is a repository of materials from the Nuclear Age. However, the Museum Foundation will be moving the facility off base, which will allow greater access to the general public. Although it takes a bit of time and paperwork to get there today, the visit should be memorable for anyone. The guest book is filled with names from Finland to Japan.
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A sample of exhibits: Arms control from 1100 BC to the present Robotics: "hands-on-the-controls" displays Nuclear medicine Measuring devices, old and new Triremes to Tritons |
Films: (daily) "Ten Seconds that Shook the World" (on request) |
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Tours: Los Alamos, Trinity Site, VLA …….New Mexico Pantex plant (Amarillo, TX), Nevada Test Site, Pima Air & Space Museum ( Tucson, AZ) |
Library & special collections: contact Arlene Lucero amlucer@sandia.gov Museum store Special programs: contact Darlene Dufour ddufour@sandia.gov |
The the museum's virtual tour: http://www.atomicmuseum.com/tour/index.cfm
Take a tour of Bay's pics:
B52 Bomber 
Corsair 
Radium treatments 
First atomic bomb test
Trinity site 
Delivering plutonium 
Early slide rule
Norden bomb site
Mystery machine
Walking through this museum, visitors are confronted with the nuts and bolts that build weapons, from crossbows to calutrons. It is not comforting to acknowledge that some of the greatest human achievements have been used to destroy so much. The nuclear age magnified this prospect to global proportions. Should nuclear technology have been banned? How about DNA research?
In the words of the a document submitted to President Truman in 1945:
".... a nation which sets the precedent of using these newly liberated forces of nature for purposes of destruction may have to bear the responsibility of opening the door to an era of devastation on an unimaginable scale." [Signed by 69 scientists at the Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory]
If you have the opportunity, visit this museum and decide for yourself if there is such a thing as a bad discovery or a a good war.
 | At Piece of the Block: |
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On the Web: |
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history and controversy surrounding the Manhattan project: Miguel A Bracchini |
| Manhattan Project files: http://www.nuclearfiles.org/docs/manhattan.html |
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