Historical Note:

Top scientists, top-secret, top gun . . .

In 1942 at a remote site in New Mexico, a top-secret project was launched in a furious race to develop the atomic bomb before the German Nazis. The Allies' best scientists and their families were torn from their academic lives and separated from friends and relatives to work in a far-off place in a tightly controlled, tightly sealed, tight-lipped environment in Los Alamos, New Mexico. It was called the "Manhattan Project." They worked in a barracks-like atmosphere, completely cut off from the outside world. Under the leadership of scientist Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, over 100,000 men and women labored on various pieces of the technology; few realized the full destructive power they were creating. When the A-bomb was successfully tested on July 16, 1945, many scientists had mixed feelings. The cheering voices celebrating success turned to dead silence and blank stares at the realization of what was to come. Oppenheimer himself voiced a line from Hindu scripture, "Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds."

Name Origin: Spanish. (new Mexico)

Capital: Santa Fe

Population: 1,654,000

Area: 121,593 square miles

Statehood: January 6, 1912 (47th)

Nickname: The Land of Enchantment

Motto: "It grows as it goes"

Famous For: Taos, Santa Fe, Pueblos, Adobe, Cliff Dwellings, Carlsbad Caverns (the largest in the world), White Sands National Monument, Ghost Ranch, Ship Rock, Pecos National Historical Park, Pancho Villa State Park, Palace of the Governors (the oldest public building in the country, built in 1610) Desert Flowers, Pottery, Rug-Making, Silver Jewelry, Los Alamos, Uranium.