Dr. Oppenheimer and General Groves Statues Dedicated in Los Alamos

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During Rosenfest, on May 19, 2011, the County of Los Alamos dedicated a life-size bronze statue of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, scientific director of the Manhattan Project,

and another of General Leslie R. Groves, commanding general of the Manhattan Project.

The statues were dedicated at Fuller Lodge.  Dr. Louis Rosen was a scientist on the team, put together by Dr. Oppenheimer and General Groves, that designed, built, and tested the world’s first atomic weapons. The successful testing and use of these weapons ended the Second World War and began the Atomic Age.

After the war, in September of 1945, Dr. Oppenheimer and General Groves returned to ground zero at the Trinity Site, at the White Sands Missile Range, NM.  

They were photo-graphed standing over the small portion of twisted metal that was all that remained of the Trinity tower, from which the world’s first nuclear device was detonated on July 16, 1945.

Susanne Vertel (above left), is the artist and sculptor. Nancy Bartlit (above right)

is a member of the Los Alamos County Fuller Lodge/Historic District Advisory Board and is the Board’s liaison to the county’s Art in Public Places Board. She was also chairman of the former Council Committee for the Historic Sculptures Master Plan.

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