J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER AND THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO: A RECIPROCAL RELATIONSHIP
The sagas of famed atomic physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (JRO) and the state of New Mexico have long been intertwined. Although the scientist lived the majority of his life in New York, California, and New Jersey, the Oppenheimer family leased and subsequently purchased a second home in the northern Pecos Valley during the late 1920s. A generation after his death, Oppenheimer's name still echoes throughout the region. Los Alamos boasts an Oppenheimer Avenue, and the J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Committee sponsors a prestigious lecture series that brings speakers to the Hill from around the world. In 1983, on the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the community, the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) renamed their scientific library the “J. Robert Oppenheimer Study Center” (currently the third largest library in the state). Today the scientist's son Peter lives quietly in the Santa Fe region…