Sandia

The story of Sandia National Laboratories begins in the intense, secretive days of the Manhattan Project. Originally established in 1945 as the 'Z Division' of Los Alamos Laboratory, its initial purpose was the non-nuclear assembly and testing of atomic weapons. As the Cold War dawned and the demand for weapons engineering grew, the operation expanded rapidly. In 1949, President Harry Truman wrote a letter to AT&T asking them to manage the lab for the 'exceptional service in the national interest'—a phrase that became the laboratory's enduring motto. Thus, Sandia Corporation was born as an independent entity, separating from Los Alamos to focus on the ordnance engineering of the nation's nuclear stockpile.

Over the decades, Sandia evolved from a single-mission engineering organization into a vast, multi-program national laboratory. While maintaining its core responsibility for the reliability and safety of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, the lab diversified its expertise to address emerging global threats. Today, Sandia's scientists and engineers tackle complex challenges ranging from cybersecurity and renewable energy to climate change and biodefense. Managed by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia (a subsidiary of Honeywell), the lab now operates major facilities in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Livermore, California, continuing its legacy of solving the nation's most difficult security problems through advanced science and technology.