Description
New Mexico is well known for development of the first nuclear weapon, an accomplishment that helped to end World War II. However, our state made numerous other contributions to the war effort. In addition to providing details of the work at Los Alamos, his presentation will describe the Bataan Death March, the Navajo Code Talkers, the “New Mexico Navy,” the “atomic espionage,” the extensive contributions of men and women on the “home front,” the prisoner of war camps, the air corps training facilities, and the black mark left on the state because of the incarceration of Japanese-Americans.
John Taylor retired in 2010 as the manager of the Integrated Technologies and Systems Strategic Management Group Support Department at Sandia National Laboratories. He has a master’s degree in nuclear engineering from Stanford University, spent 5 years as a nuclear submarine officer, and was a member of Sandia’s technical and management staff for 35 years. He is the author or co-author of 50 technical reports and 17 books. Richard Melzer was a Regents’ professor of history at UNM’s Valencia Campus, where he taught for more than 35 years before retiring. He is the author of 21 books and more than 100 articles about New Mexico history. He is a former president of the Historical Society of New Mexico.
