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Albuquerque, New Mexico: National Museum of Nuclear Science and History

RoadsideAmerica.com Team Field Report

Address:
601 Eubank Blvd SE, Albuquerque, NM
Directions:
Southeast edge of the city. I-40 exit 165, then south about a mile on Southern Blvd SE. On the southwest corner of Eubank Blvd SE and Southern Blvd SE.
Hours:
Opens daily at 9. Gated after 5 pm. (Call to verify) Local health policies may affect hours and access.
Phone:
505-245-2137
Admission:
Adults $15.
RA Rates:
Major Fun
Save to My Sights

National Museum of Nuclear Science and History.

National Museum of Nuclear Science and History

Formerly the National Atomic Museum. Full-scale replicas of famous A-bombs and the Trinity Tower. Geiger counters and flash goggles for sale in a well-stocked gift shop. Gated yard has an actual sail from a nuke sub. Missile photo-op out front.

Roadsideamerica.com Report... [02/06/2011]
Albuquerque, New Mexico - Atomic Name Instantly Vaporized
National Museum of Nuclear Science and History: It's official: the National Atomic Museum has moved and changed its name to the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History. [04/08/2009] Complete Story...

Visitor Tips and News About National Museum of Nuclear Science and History

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USS James K. Polk sub sail.

USS James K. Polk Sub Sail

The conning tower and sailplanes from the nuclear submarine USS James K. Polk are on display behind the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History.

[Gan Nunnally, 11/15/2022]

Aircraft and nuclear submarine sail.

National Museum of Nuclear Science and History

Awesome, well-done exhibits -- inside and out.

[R Mogel, 10/04/2021]

The 645 "sail" on the museum tarmac is from a nuclear submarine.

Critical Assembly.

National Museum of Nuclear Science and History

Suddenly it's 1945! You are there in Los Alamos, New Mexico, with Bob Oppenheimer and Leslie Groves, racing the Nazis and Commies to assemble the world's first atom bombs. Don't bring those two hemispheres of plutonium too close together, or we'll all be turned into atomic toast!

A room full of vacuum-tube technology, Geiger counters, and mysterious metal spheres is the latest permanent exhibit at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History. Titled "Critical Assembly," it's an exact replica of the primitive Los Alamos lab where America's first nukes were assembled. The spheres, in fact, are the same kind of uranium and plutonium bomb cores that killed Los Alamos physicists with radiation in two separate 1940s accidents, when sloppy handling made them "go critical."

The exhibit was built over a period of six years by sculptor Jim Sanborn, who used old photographs and eyewitness accounts of the Manhattan Project laboratories as references. Sanborn assembled the vintage oscilloscopes and other lab equipment, as well as the furniture and tools. Then he fabricated and machined the bomb cores himself, and manufactured their primitive shield-the-physicist blocks of lead and wax, which were the scientists' only protection from potential spontaneous nuclear explosions.

[RoadsideAmerica.com Team, 01/09/2018]

Critical Assembly.


Nearby Offbeat Places

Atomic CannonAtomic Cannon, Albuquerque, NM - < 1 mi.
Owl CafeOwl Cafe, Albuquerque, NM - 1 mi.
Muffler Man: Lumberjack MutantMuffler Man: Lumberjack Mutant, Albuquerque, NM - 2 mi.
In the region:
Chevy on a Stick, Albuquerque, NM - 3 mi.

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