It’s a festive scene at the Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer and Gen. Leslie Groves statues today on Central Avenue in downtown Los Alamos in honor of Oppies’ 110th birthday. Photo by Carol A Clark/ladailypost.com
Staff Report
Today marks the 110th anniversary of the birth of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, and the Los Alamos Historical Museum is hosting a daylong birthday party to celebrate.
The Museum, 1050 Bathtub Row (just north of Fuller Lodge), will have free cupcakes available while supplies last. Oppenheimer biographies, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning American Prometheus, will be 20 percent off regular price.
In addition, Los Alamos visitors and residents alike can pick up coupons at the Museum for $1 off Oppenheimer martinis and 10 percent off specially prepared Oppenheimer meals at the Manhattan Project Restaurant (formerly Dixie Girl). Coupons will only be available in the Museum and are only valid today, April 22. The restaurant will display Manhattan Project-era pictures from the Museum and have some Oppenheimer “trivia” available, as well.
Oppenheimer, scientific director of the Manhattan Project and a “founding father” of Los Alamos, was born in 1904 in New York. He visited New Mexico as a young man, and his love for the area helped him convince Gen. Leslie Groves, military director of the project, that it would be a good place for a remote, top-secret laboratory during World War II.
The Los Alamos Historical Museum is a non-profit, community museum, open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekends. Admission is free; donations are always welcome.
