Sandia Base - Sandia National Laboratories

Sandia National Laboratories

After the move to Sandia Base, Los Alamos Laboratory's Z Division grew to almost 500 people and became a separate branch of Los Alamos on April 1, 1948. Named Sandia Laboratory, the organization continued to grow to approximately 1000 employees by mid-1948.

The University of California, long-time manager of Los Alamos, indicated that it no longer desired to be involved in the engineering part of nuclear weapons development. Thus, in 1949, AT&T's manufacturing arm, Western Electric, accepted the management role on a no-profit, no-fee basis. Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Western Electric, was formed to manage the lab. AT&T maintained the contract until 1993 when Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin) took over. The largest organization at Sandia Base, it became Sandia National Laboratories in 1979. It now operates facilities in Albuquerque and Livermore, California. The organization continues to expand into new areas of research, such as renewable energy sources.