Nov. 25, 2026
By Steve Simpson and Katie E. Ismael
The National Museum of Nuclear Science and History in Albuquerque, where NM Tech alumni
and Sandia National Lab employees gathered earlier this month to celebrate the intertwined
history between the university and the lab. (Photo credit/ National Museum of Nuclear
Science and History)
The long and rich history between New Mexico Tech (NMT), Sandia National Laboratories
(SNL) and the unprecedented, top-secret Manhattan Project was on display during the
Night at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History in Albuquerque earlier
this month that brought out about 120 alumni and Sandia employees.
A highlight was a presentation from Van Romero, who received his BS and MS in physics
from NMT, served as Vice President of Research from 1997 to 2022 and worked closely
with many faculty featured in his presentation. Romero was also instrumental in helping
maintain a strong pipeline between SNL and NMT.
Today, approximately 466 NMT alumni work at SNL, according to Amanda Armenta, Community
Relations Specialist for Sandia National Labs.
The connection between SNL and NMT traces back to the arrival of E.J. Workman at what
was then the New Mexico School of Mines in 1946. Workman served as NMT president from
1946-1965.
the lab and Manhattan Project, noting the important pathway from student to alumnus
to Sandia Lab employee. (Photo credit/ Katie E. Ismael)
As historians tell it:
Before NMT, Workman was professor and Department Chair of Physics at the University
of New Mexico (UNM) and held a government contract for the development of the proximity
fuse in conjunction with the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins, a device
that used radar echoes to detonate an explosive device as it neared its target.
After a dispute with an incoming University of New Mexico president, Workman severed
connections with UNM and trucked his enterprise down to Socorro, along with numerous
researchers and UNM physics faculty. He also leased space at the former Sandia Girls
School in Albuquerque where he continued research until the Atomic Energy Commission
(AEC) sought ownership of the building in 1949.
The Z Division of the Manhattan Project was colocated on the east side of Albuquerque,
and when Workman vacated the Sandia Girls’ School, the Atomic Energy Commission quickly
moved to take over the property. Z Division expanded into the new property and Sandia
National Laboratories was formed.
Over the years, SNL and NMT have maintained a strong collaboration, and the lab has
frequently made use of NMT facilities and resources.
More recently, SNL and NMT teamed up to formulate the 3-1-1 rule that allows passengers
to carry liquids on to passenger airlines. In 2006 a terrorist plot to use liquid
explosives to take down an airliner was foiled and all liquids were banned from passenger
carry ons. SNL and NMT quickly teamed to address the issue. Within months EMRTC/NMT
provided the data and SNL performed the analysis that led to the new rule.
To this day, SNL and New Mexico Tech researchers retain strong partnerships through
SNL’s Lab Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program. Additionally, SNL research
staff serve on advisory boards for academic programs and offer internships for NMT
students.
NMT’s Connection with the Manhattan Project
With the summer 2023 release of Oppenheimer, many at New Mexico Tech have revisited the historical Manhattan Project connections.
Around this same time, Chuck Zimmerly, former NMT student and regent and president
of the Socorro County Historical Society, discovered an intriguing video of Robert
Oppenheimer in downtown Socorro, walking in a 49ers parade sometime in the early 1950s.
In the years following the close of the Manhattan Project, New Mexico was flush with
physicists. Workman himself was involved in the Manhattan Project—his University of
New Mexico office served as a mail drop for the atomic bomb project—so when he relocated
his research enterprise to Socorro, he recruited several notable researchers to join
his budding atmospheric physics research program.
Marvin Wilkening was one of the more notable of Workman’s recruits. Wilkening joined
the faculty in 1948 and stayed at NMT for 40 years, with stints as chairman of the
Langmuir Laboratory Committee, graduate dean, and advisor for a young Van Romero.
Wilkening, who worked under Enrico Fermi, was present in Chicago when the first nuclear
reactor went critical on December 2, 1942. He was then sent to Oak Ridge, Tennessee,
which enriched uranium for atomic weapons, and later on the “Site Y,” also known as
Los Alamos.
Wilkening joined Fermi and others at the Trinity Site in New Mexico, where the first
atomic bomb was tested. He recounted to Romero his experience watching Enrico Fermi
test the explosion’s yield with a piece of paper, a story immortalized in the Oppenheimer film.
Also featured in the Oppenheimer film is Giovanni Rossi Lomanitz who started at NMT in 1962 and served as chair of
the Physics Department. In the film, Lomanitz was Oppenheimer’s student at UC Berkeley
and worked in the Berkeley Radiation Lab.
Lomanitz was brought before the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) for
previous ties to the Communist Party and eventually blacklisted from research activities
for refusing to identify other researchers with Communist ties.
Many NMT alumni speak highly of Lomanitz’s classes and share stories at 49ers of his
epic chain smoking during class.
Guests gather at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History. (Photo credit/
Chiefy Loma)
(Photo credit/ Chiefy Loma)
Inside the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History. (Photo credit/ Chiefy
Loma)