National Museum of Nuclear Science & History in New Mexico, USA

The National Museum of Nuclear Science & History in Albuquerque examines both the science of the atom and the historical consequences of nuclear technology. Its exhibitions connect early discoveries in atomic physics with the Manhattan Project, World War II, the Cold War, nuclear energy, medicine, radiation, and other civilian applications. Established in 1969, the museum is a Smithsonian Affiliate and the only congressionally chartered museum in its field.

What the Museum Covers

The museum treats nuclear history as more than a story of weapons. Visitors encounter the scientific discoveries that made nuclear technology possible, the people who worked in the field, military applications developed during and after World War II, and technologies that later became part of medicine, electricity generation, research, and industry.

Exhibits address subjects including the structure of the atom, radiation, nuclear medicine, nuclear power, radioactive materials, the Manhattan Project, the Trinity Test, the Cold War, nuclear weapons development, and popular culture during the Atomic Age. Historical objects are combined with scientific explanations so that technical developments can be understood alongside the events in which they were used.

The Manhattan Project and New Mexico

New Mexico occupies a central place in the museum’s historical material. The Manhattan Project laboratory at Los Alamos developed the first nuclear weapons, while the first nuclear device was tested at the Trinity Site in southern New Mexico on July 16, 1945. Museum displays connect that history with the scientists, engineers, military personnel, technicians, equipment, and experimental work involved in the project.

The museum also addresses the use of atomic bombs against Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the development of nuclear weapons after World War II. These subjects appear within the wider history of the Atomic Age rather than as isolated military displays.

Critical Assembly

Critical Assembly, the Secrets of Los Alamos 1944 is a permanent installation by American artist Jim Sanborn. It reconstructs the appearance of experimental work carried out at Los Alamos as scientists studied critical mass and the behavior of nuclear materials during the Manhattan Project.

Sanborn spent years researching the subject and collecting period equipment. The installation combines authentic electronic equipment and historical objects with carefully fabricated components representing experimental assemblies. Its tables, instruments, cables, lamps, and precision-made pieces recreate the physical setting in which early criticality experiments were conducted without presenting the reconstructed components as functional nuclear devices.

Heritage Park

A large portion of the collection is displayed outdoors in Heritage Park, directly behind the museum building. The area contains aircraft, missiles, rockets, military vehicles, and other large artifacts associated with the history of nuclear weapons delivery and Cold War technology.

Aircraft in the museum’s collection include types associated with different periods of American strategic aviation, while missile displays illustrate the development of land-based delivery systems. A tall replica of the tower used for the Trinity Test provides a physical reference for the scale of the structure erected at the original test site in 1945.

Because Heritage Park is outdoors, part of a museum visit takes place in direct weather conditions. This is particularly relevant during Albuquerque’s hotter summer days or periods of strong sun and wind.

Museum Artifact Center

The museum expanded public access to its nuclear defense collection in 2026 with the opening of the Museum Artifact Center. The facility houses more than 40 unclassified nuclear artifacts and related systems, including objects that had remained in restricted storage for more than two decades.

The center uses an open-storage approach rather than presenting every object as part of a conventional gallery. Visitors can see preserved machinery, components, weapon casings, handling equipment, and deployment-related technology at close range while the museum maintains the collection in a dedicated storage and preservation environment.

The Museum Artifact Center is part of the museum campus but may have its own access schedule and ticket arrangements. Current access information is published through the museum’s official visitor information.

Nuclear Science Beyond Weapons

Several parts of the museum focus on peaceful and civilian uses of nuclear science. Nuclear medicine material explains how radioactive isotopes and radiation became tools for diagnosis and treatment. Other displays address nuclear power, radiation detection, radioactive waste, and the scientific principles behind fission and related technologies.

This scientific material helps distinguish the controlled use of nuclear reactions and radioactive materials from nuclear weapons. Visitors can follow how discoveries made during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries developed into technologies used in hospitals, laboratories, power generation, industrial processes, and scientific research.

Atomic Culture and the Cold War

The museum also preserves objects connected with the way nuclear technology entered everyday culture. Civil defense materials, consumer products, toys, printed material, and other objects reflect how ideas about atomic energy, radiation, nuclear war, and technological progress appeared in American life during the twentieth century.

Cold War displays place military hardware within the period’s broader technological and social setting. Rather than treating aircraft and missiles only as engineering objects, the museum links them to changes in strategy, scientific research, public awareness, and the long period of nuclear competition that followed World War II.

From the National Atomic Museum to the Present Campus

The institution began in 1969 and was known for many years as the National Atomic Museum. Its history includes periods at locations associated with Kirtland Air Force Base and elsewhere in Albuquerque. The museum later moved to its present Eubank Boulevard campus, where the current building opened in 2009.

The present site provides space for indoor galleries as well as the outdoor aircraft, missile, and large-object collection. The later addition of the Museum Artifact Center expanded the amount of material that can be preserved on site and made a portion of the museum’s previously stored nuclear defense collection accessible to visitors.

Visiting the Museum

The museum is located at 601 Eubank Blvd SE in Albuquerque, near Kirtland Air Force Base and the Sandia Science & Technology Park. Current visitor listings show regular daily hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; holiday schedules, special events, and access to individual facilities can differ.

The indoor galleries and Heritage Park cover different parts of the collection, so visitors interested in aircraft and missiles should allow time for the outdoor area as well as the main building. Admission, temporary exhibitions, Museum Artifact Center access, educational programs, and event schedules can be checked through the official National Museum of Nuclear Science & History website before visiting.