Nick Salazar is a Manhattan Project veteran and a longtime employee of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Salazar began working in the lab’s mess hall over summer vacation from high school in 1945.
After the war, Salazar served in the Air Force for two years. In 1950, he returned to Los Alamos as a full-time employee. He worked as a thermonuclear scientist at the lab until his retirement in 1991. He later joined the Board of Governors of the lab. In 2013, he received a “Lifetime Achievement Award” from LANL.
Salazar was involved with local government throughout his career. He served as County Commissioner of Rio Arriba County from 1964 to 1968. He was later elected into the New Mexico House of Representatives, where he has served ever since.