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National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Oral Histories

Thomas Mason’s Interview

Thomas (Thom) Mason is the President and CEO of Triad National Security, LLC and the director designate of Los Alamos National Laboratory. A condensed matter physicist, he previously served as the director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory from 2007-2017, and as Senior Vice President for Global Laboratory Operations at Battelle. In this interview, Mason describes some of the major scientific projects at Oak Ridge from the Manhattan Project to today, including the Spallation Neutron Source, nuclear reactor development, scientific computing, and nuclear nonproliferation efforts. He also explains why he believes that the science done at universities and national laboratories creates “a fertile ground” for innovation.

Joanna McClelland Glass’s Interview

Joanna McClelland Glass is a playwright best known for her play “Trying,” based on her relationship with Francis Biddle, who was the United States Attorney General under FDR and chief American judge at the Nuremberg Trials. Glass worked for Biddle from 1967 until his death in 1968. Glass is the author of two novels, one of which is “Woman Wanted,” that was turned into a film. In this interview, she discusses her childhood and attempts to make it as a playwright, before turning to her relationship with Francis Biddle.

Nancy Bartlit’s Interview (2013)

Nancy Bartlit is the former president of the Los Alamos Historical Society and co-author of Silent Voices of World War II: When Sons of the Land of Enchantment Met Sons of the Land of the Rising Sun. Her father worked on the Manhattan Project in New York City, Oak Ridge, and Canada. Bartlit talks about how her experiences teaching at a girls’ school in Japan and living in Los Alamos influenced her work as a historian. She discusses Japan’s surrender, the internment of Japanese Americans, Navajo Code Talkers, and how Japan remembers the bombings today.