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The Slotin Building

A white square building with teal steel entry doors, the Slotin Building, stands connected to power lines and poles in a dry, flat field with a rocky, high desert ridge behind.

The Slotin Building bears the name of physicist Louis Slotin, a Canadian-born physicist who earned the nickname “Chief Armorer of the United States” for his skillful assembly of the world's first atomic weapon. Few had more experience with the design and construction of nuclear weapons than Slotin. In Los Alamos, Slotin conducted criticality tests, helping determine the critical mass values of uranium and plutonium samples. The experiments carried a high risk of danger, requiring scientists to bring the radioactive cores just to the brink of criticality. Because of his expertise, Slotin assembled the core of the Gadget, the world’s first atomic device detonated in the Trinity Test on July 16, 1945. After the war, Slotin had to stay in Los Alamos to train his replacements. On May 21, 1946, he was performing a criticality test when his hands slipped during an experiment and caused a criticality accident in this building that exposed him to lethal doses of radiation.

2020

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Public domain:Full Granting Rights

Image

Manhattan Project National Historical Park, Code: MAPR

Manhattan Project National Historical Park
Latitude: 35.8809471130371, Longitude: -106.301979064941

NPS.gov Collection

10/14/2020

10/14/2020

Public Can View

Kevin Sutton

Kevin Sutton

Tuesday, July 22, 2025 9:06:47 PM

Tuesday, July 22, 2025 10:00:51 PM

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NIKON CORPORATION NIKON CORPORATION, NIKON D850 100, 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8

1/400 sec at f / 7.1

27 mm

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Wednesday, October 14, 2020 10:16:19 AM

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7.9 MB

2020-10-22T10:29:03-06:00

Scenic