Behind the scenes of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the quintessential American lab.

Nobel laureate Ernest O. Lawrence and renowned physicist Edward Teller founded the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1952. A new ideas incubator, the Lab was at the heart of nuclear testing and the development of supercomputers, lasers, and other major technological innovations of the second half of the twentieth century. Many of its leaders became prominent figures in the technical and defense establishments, and by the end of the 1960s, Livermore was the peer of Los Alamos National Lab, a relationship that continues today.

In The American Lab, former Livermore director C. Bruce Tarter offers unparalleled access to the inner workings of the Lab. Touching on Cold War nuclear science and the technological shift that occurred after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he traces the Lab's evolution from its founding under University of California management through its transfer to private oversight. Along the way, he highlights important episodes in that journey, from the invention of Polaris, the first submarine-launched ballistic missile, to the Lab's controversial role in the Star Wars program. He also describes Livermore's significant responsibilities in stockpile stewardship, the program that ensures the safety and reliability of the US nuclear arsenal.

The book portrays the lab's extensive work on thermonuclear fusion, a potential source of unlimited energy; describes the development of the world's largest laser fusion installation, the National Ignition Facility; and examines a number of smaller projects, such as the Lab's participation in founding the Human Genome Project. Finally, it traces the relationship of the Lab to its federal sponsor, the Department of Energy, as it evolved from partnership to compliance with orders, a shift that affected all of the national laboratories. Drawing on oral histories, internal laboratory documents, and the author's personal experiences from more than fifty years as a Lab employee, The American Lab is an illuminating history of the Lab and its revolutionary work.

Behind the scenes of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the quintessential American lab.

About the Author

C. Bruce Tarter is a theoretical physicist who began work at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory as a researcher in 1967. Presently director emeritus, he served as the Lab's director from 1994 to 2002.

Reviews
The American Lab is highly recommended reading not just for science collections; but for anyone who would better understand the intersection of and connections between political, scientific, educational, and military communities.
-Donovan's Literary Services
Up to now, the growing lexicon of scholarship on the U.S. national laboratories has lacked work on the history of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, aside from one dissertation and a classified document. This book by a former laboratory director, which covers the defense laboratory's history from its beginnings to 2008, provides the first comprehensive, easily accessible account . . . Given the enormous national investment in this complex, the work and devices it produces, and its impact on research and development, Tarter's book offers crucial, previously missing information.
-Catherine Westfall, Michigan State University, Isis
Today we know Silicon Valley as a veritable field of dreams for startups, but in The American Lab, the former director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, C. Bruce Tarter, recounts how a culture that valued debate, questioning, and passion made Livermore not only the first successful startup in the San Francisco Bay Area but a uniquely American lab.
-Sarah Wells, MIT Technology Review



Book Information
ISBN 9781421425313
Author C. Bruce Tarter
Format Hardback
Page Count 472
Imprint Johns Hopkins University Press
Publisher Johns Hopkins University Press
Weight(grams) 794g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 156mm * 35mm