Los Alamos Historical Society
Getting History in the 21st Century: Podcasting
A podcast is an audio file that you can download and listen to on your computer or mp3 player. The term podcast is a word play on broadcast - you don't need an iPod to listen to a podcast - any mp3 player (or just your computer) and compatible sound software will work.
You can also subscribe to The Los Alamos Historical Society podcasts.
Just click on the XML button below and paste the URL into your podcast software. The software will automatically download any updates to our podcast to your computer's media player (such as iTunes) whenever you are connected to the internet.
The Los Alamos Historical Society Podcast
Do you need podcast software? iTunes and iPodder are both free downloads and are available for Windows and Mac.
(What would these three Nobel Prize-winning physicists who worked on the Manhattan Project, E.O. Lawrence, Enrique Fermi, and I.I. Rabi, think about communicating with today's mp3 technology?)
You can hear sounds from the past without subscribing to our podcast. Just click on the file you want to hear and download it into your computer.
The Incredible Shrinking Podcast Project is under way! Thanks to the wonders of technology, we are shrinking our podcasts from 6 and 7 megabytes to 1 and 2. That will save space on our server and on your .mp3 player. We hope you won't notice any difference in sound, but please let us know if you do by e-mailing us at
Helen Garcia's family life changed drastically when she and her husband moved from a farm in the Espanola Valley to Los Alamos to work on the Manhattan Project. Helen tells about her job and how it changed their lives in this podcast. (1.16 MB .mp3 file) |
Arno Roensch had one of the more unusual jobs on the Manhattan Project, that of a glassblower. He tells about the work in this podcast. (1.49 MB .mp3 file). |
Eleanor "Jerry" Roensch didn't know the world-famous scientists she heard talking on the telephone were world-famous. A member of the Women's Army Corp, she knew she was working on some project to end World War II, but as one of the town telephone operators, she didn't realize what all the technical work was about. Hear more in this podcast. (2.1 MB .mp3 file) |
Abner Schreiber was a very busy man, serving as the Los Alamos County Attorney and the county prosecutor while trying run his own private practice. He tells about all the work in this podcast (594 KB .mp3 file). |
Peggy Pond Church tells about her adventures growing up in Pajarito Canyon before her father started the Los Alamos Ranch School. Ride along on stick horses, explore caveates, find arrowheads, and study the stars with her, as you listen to this talk from 1973. (1.6 MB .mp3 file) |
Gerald Polzin came to Los Alamos in 1947 as one of the new guards for the Atomic Energy Commission. In the wake of the Rosenberg spy scandal, Polzin talks about what members of the Los Alamos Pro Force tried to do better than their Army predecessors. (2.43 MB .mp3 file) |
| This podcast revisits a 1947 recording of Los Alamos scientists singing parodies and other songs they had made up about their post-war lives (4.8 MB .mp3 file) | Happy Holidays! Enjoy selections by the Los Alamos Choral Society from the 1947 Christmas program. |
| Neils Bohr was one of the greatest physicist not just on the Manhattan Project but of all time. This podcast is an excerpt from the 1985 J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Committee Lecture where physicist John Wheeler pays tribute to Bohr. (1.95 MB .mp3 file) | This podcast is the second excerpt from the 1985 J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Committee Lecture where physicist John Wheeler pays tribute to the great Neils Bohr and his legacy to the field of physics. (2.25 MB .mp3 file) |
| Harris Mayer, a friend of Nobel Prize winner Fred Reines and his wife Sylvia, tells some stories about these remarkable people in an oral letter to their children. Excerpts from that letter are in this podcast (1.7 MB .mp3 file). | The business climate in Los Alamos has had its ups and downs over the years. In this podcast, one of the early managers of Metzger's hardware store tells about the beginnings of this community landmark store. (7.3 MB .mp3 file). |
| John Manley, Oppenheimer's right-hand man during the Manhattan Project, served in a variety of capacities at the lab and with the Atomic Energy Commission. This podcast (1.28 MB .mp3 file) is an excerpt from a speech he gave to the Los Alamos Nuclear Freeze Group in 1983. | Until the 1960s, Los Alamos was wholly owned by the federal government. Paul Noland, the county manager who oversaw the changeover to private ownership, tells of some of the issues faced by the county then -- some of which are remarkably similar to news headlines today. (1.54 MB .mp3 file). |
Dr. MacAllister Hull explains what some of the lower-level technicians on the Manhattan Project thought about the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan. This is an excerpt from a speech he gave on the 40th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, Aug. 6, 1985. (1.54 MB .mp3 file). |
We revisit a recording made by a group of Los Alamos physicists in 1947, where they sang some very clever, made up songs. This one, "Eighty Millicurries by Half Past Nine" or "Round and Round and Round Goes the Neutron" must be unique among Big Band-style songs. (7.01 MB .mp3 file) |
| Between scared recruits who shot at coyotes and falling asleep on the job, the first guards in Los Alamos had plenty of adventures. Hear these stories, shared by William Masterson during an oral history recorded in 1994 (1.88 MB .mp3 file). | After World War II, newly appointed Los Alamos laboratory director Norris Bradbury had many technically-orinented young soldiers on his hands, waiting to be discharged. He created Los Alamos University to solve several problems at once. (1.48 MB .mp3 file) |
| Originally assigned to retrieve plutonium from Jumbo, Keaton Keller wasn't invited to the Trinity site after that project was disbanded. Still, he didn't want to miss out on an opportunity to witness history. Hear how he did it in this podcast (1.76 MB .mp3 file). | Donald Hirsch worked in the plutonium recovery lab during the Manhattan Project and shares one precarious and one hilarious anecdote from his experiences in this podcast (1.66 MB .mp3 file). |
| Ilse Perlman joined the Manhattan Project as a physicist early in the project. She talks about her specialized work and her struggle, as a former German citizen, to get clearance (1.27 MB mp3 file). | Bill Menker wasn't quite sure what he was getting into when he received a letter in the mail from PO Box 1663, but he and his fellow recruits figured it out by the time the bus reached Los Alamos. Hear his story in this podcast (1.12 MB mp3 file) |
Alumni of the Los Alamos Ranch School still say Bences Gonzales made the world's best sopapillas. In addition, he was quite a father figure to many of the boys. Hear Bences' own sons talk about their dad's special ways. (1.53 MB .mp3 file). For more information on life at the Ranch School, read Ray Gonzales' book, A Boy on the Hill. |
How does a brilliant scientist explain relativity to third graders? Listen as Edward Teller talks about his trip to the Andromeda Galaxy, a discussion from a Los Alamos classroom in 1993. (4.8 MB .mp3 file). |
Find out interesting tidbits about entertainment in Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project, such as how Robert Oppenheimer participated in a community play when he didn't have time to memorize his lines when John Mench tells "Stoories from the Hill." (955 KB .mp3). |
E.J. Ward, a tour guide in New Mexico during the early 1900s, talks about visits to Frijoles Canyon, which would become Bandelier National Monument. |
Gatekeeper to Los Alamos, Dorothy McKibben shares the story of a not-to-bright spy. (3.02 MB .mp3 file) |
Manhattan Project photographer John "Mike" Michnovicz explains the role of the photo staff during the project, including documenting the deaths of two men from radiation exposure. (962 KB .mp3 file) |
Manhattan Project photographer Stanley Zembaty tells how he and Dr. Oppenheimer got their coffee one morning when the main water pipe into Los Alamos froze. (1.09 MB .mp3 file) |
Norman Ramsey, one of the young, junior scientists on the Manhattan Project, talks about the early days around what is now the Los Alamos Historic District and his home, one of three apartments in Spruce Cottage. (7.41 MB .mp3 file) |
| The folks who lived in Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project really knew how to party! Listen as these women reminisce about musicals, plays, wild dances, and more. (1.26 MB .mp3 file). A bit fuzzy, but worth the listen. | Cyril Smith, head of the plutonium metallurgy group during the Manhattan Project, talks about some of the early project days and shares some of his thoughts on Edward Teller. (1.95 MB .mp3 file) |
| Long-time Los Alamos Ranch School Headmaster Lawrence Hitchcock talks about some of the mountain trails where he and the boys used to ride -- including a few where he got lost! (1.44 MB .mp3 file) | Norris Bradbury, the second director of the lab in Los Alamos, describes his first impressions of the town and the work during the Manhattan Project. (Please bear with this recording. It starts off fuzzy but gets better as it goes along.) (6.24 MB .mp3 file) | Sisters Bette and Jo Ann share life in Los Alamos as teens during the Manhattan Project. (903 KB .mp3 file) | Bob Porton, the long-time manager of KRS, talks about the beginnings of the radio station in Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project. (1.54 MB .mp3 file) | Alice Kimball Smith recalls teaching the children of Nobel Prize winners and others at Los Alamos High School (1.19 MB .mp3 file) | Women recall housing shortages and kitchen fires during the Manhattan Project. (.98 MB .mp3 file) |
| "Main Gate Blues," classic song of Los Alamos from radio station KRS (1.07 MB .mp3 file) | Women whose husbands were part of the Manhattan Project talk about mail censorship in Los Alamos. (5.19 MB .mp3 file) |
| Hans Bethe on neutrinos (3.74 MB .mp3 file) | Los Alamos Physicist singing "Whatcha Gonna Do Now the War's Been Won?" (4 MB .mp3 file) |
| Otto Frisch on arts in Los Alamos and life during the Manhattan Project (1.43 MB .mp3 file) | Los Alamos Physicists singing "It Ain't the Money (That Makes the Nucleus Go 'Round)" (2.4 MB .mp3 file) |
Los Alamos Historical Society podcasts are excerpted from the extensive oral history collection in the Los Alamos Historical Archives. The information on these oral histories is the intellectual property of the Los Alamos Historical Society and is copyrighted. Complete transcripts are available for researchers and history buffs. Please contact us at archives@losalamoshistory.org for more information.