Night with a Nerd - Trinity Site: 80 Years of Data and Factoids

Join Jim Eckles and Robb Hermes on December 11th from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. at Fuller Lodge for a fascinating evening exploring the history and science of the Trinity Site in honor of its 80th anniversary.

Eckles and Hermes take a fresh look at the history of Trinity Site, where the first atomic bomb was exploded on July 16, 1945. It has been 80 years and new information keeps coming to light while misinformation seems to pop up like in a "whack-a-mole" game. They will lay to rest the old idea that Trinitite, the glass that coated the ground zero crater, was formed in a crème brulee effect from the fireball. Actually, it rained down as a hot liquid that puddled on the crater's surface. During Trinity Site open houses, Eckles and Hermes regularly man a table at ground zero to provide "free answers" to visitors who want to take a deeper dive into the topic than what is available on the site's signs.

This event is free and open to the public. Seating is first come, first served. Refreshments will be served after the presentation

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Jim Eckles is retired from a 30-year career at White Sands Missile Range where he regularly ran Trinity Site open houses and took groups and VIPS to the site. Early in that process he got to meet several of the men who worked on the Trinity test. At this point, some estimate he has spent more time at Trinity Site than any other human being. His book, "Trinity:The History of an Atomic Bomb National Historic Landmark," details some of what he has learned about the site in the past 45 years.

Robb Hermes is retired from a 30-year career at the Los Alamos National Laboratory where he worked on many different projects, and has 3 R&D-100 awards and several US Patents to his credit. His interest in the Trinity Site began 20 years ago after going on an organized tour. An amateur geologist, his interest in ant sand led to the re-discovery of spherules and teardrops of Trinitite around ground zero, which led to several publications, LANL's Nuclear Weapons Journal, 2005.