Physics Club Visits Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Very Large Array, and much more!
The physics club invaded New Mexico over spring break for a fun-filled trip, visiting several epicenters of science, innovation, and history throughout the state.
Starting in Magdalene NM, the Physics Club took in the sites at the Very Large Array, a group of twenty-seven enormous radio antennas all observing together creating, in effect, a single telescope many miles across.
The next day the club members visited the birthplace of the atomic bomb, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), a major hub of physics and engineering that once housed the likes of Erico Fermi, Hans Betha, Robert Oppenheimer, and Richard Feynman. The Physics Club got a sneak peek of tomorrow’s science, with a special behind-the-scenes tour of LANL’s cutting-edge facilities. After the tour, the club visited the house where Robert Oppenheimer lived while working as director of the Manhattan Project.
Moving the expedition southward, the next two days were spent enjoying the Nuclear History Museum in Albuquerque and exploring the sand dunes in White Sands MN, near the Trinity Site where the first atomic bomb was detonated in 1945.
The Physics Club’s trek through the scientific history and landscapes of New Mexico highlights the club’s fun-loving, adventurous spirit, as well as its dedication to academic and cultural enrichment through science. The club meets every Monday at 5:00, in room 201 of the Physics and Atmospheric Sciences Building. All are welcome.
