RESEARCHER PROFILE

In the Field

A photographic research journal, beginning with a few selected sites and expanding gradually.

Scholarly Profile Research Beyond the Archives In the Field

A Photographic Research Journal

This journal will document firsthand visits to historically significant locations associated with the nuclear enterprise. Each entry will connect personal photographs and observations with verified historical context and, where available, archival records.

The journal begins with Trinity Site; Stagg Field and Los Alamos entries remain forthcoming. Selected original Trinity photographs and captions are presented below. Additional field entries will be added after review. No generic photographs are presented as firsthand field evidence.

Trinity Site — New Mexico

Field photographs from the historic site of the first nuclear detonation, July 16, 1945. Photographs document Ground Zero, the Jumbo vessel, a reported test-tower remnant, and McDonald Ranch historical interpretation.

Trinity Site Ground Zero monument — Ground Zero monument at Trinity Site, where the world’s first nuclear device was detonated on July 16, 1945.

Jumbo containment vessel at Trinity — Jumbo, the massive steel vessel originally designed to contain a test explosion and preserve the plutonium if the device failed. It was not used for containment during the Trinity test.

Ground-level fragment identified as tower remnant — Ground-level fragment identified by personnel overseeing the Trinity Site visit as a surviving remnant of the original 100-foot steel test tower.

McDonald Ranch historical interpretive marker — Interpretive marker documenting McDonald Ranch House, where the plutonium core was assembled for the Trinity test in July 1945.

Herb Lehr interpretive display at McDonald Ranch — Historical display showing Herbert Lehr transporting plutonium hemispheres into the assembly room at McDonald Ranch House.

Stagg Field — University of Chicago

Photo entry forthcoming. Historical investigation of the location associated with Chicago Pile-1 and the first controlled nuclear chain reaction.

Los Alamos — New Mexico

Photo entry forthcoming. A field journal entry connecting the historic setting of Manhattan Project research with archival and institutional history.

Historical Artifacts and Material Culture

Future entries may document selected historical artifacts, accompanied by provenance, contextual evidence, and explicit distinctions between verified facts and unresolved questions.