By June 1945, Oppenheimer’s secret laboratory in the New Mexico desert had become a full-blown town. The pace of the work was astounding, especially to the men performing it daily. In March 1943, “Oppie” (as most people at Los Alamos called him) had arrived with the first members of his research team. Now, barely more than two years later, about 4,000 people were living at Los Alamos in some 300 newly constructed apartment buildings, some 50 dormitories and 200 trailers. The residents had their own radio station and their own Los Alamos town council.
