HII leaders discuss “Oppenheimer” and its connection to today’s workforce
“Oppenheimer” is widely regarded as a film about “the father of the atomic bomb.”
But it’s also an origin story for Los Alamos National Laboratory, where HII is part of the Triad and N3B joint ventures that manage the lab and the clean-up contract, respectively, for the Department of Energy.
Shot on location, the film highlights the New Mexico landscape that HII professionals are working hard to preserve and protect.
With the film nominated for 13 Academy Awards this weekend, we asked leaders from Mission Technologies’ Nuclear and Environmental Services business group what they thought of it.
All praised Cillian Murphy in the title role and said the moral aspect of the story — Oppenheimer wrestling with the consequences of the bomb — resonated with them.
“The part I actually liked was where he was legitimately conflicted,” Michael Lempke, president of Nuclear and Environmental Services. “That’s going to weigh on any reasonable person’s mind.”
Joseph Legare, vice president of program management, said the film was “an accurate portrayal of history and the challenges” faced at the time. He said he appreciated how the film portrayed “the uncertainty and responsibility [they] felt in creating such a powerful weapon.”
The leaders also connected the work done at Los Alamos in the 1940s to what HII does there today.
“It’s very important to me to help the workforce of today make those connections to the past,” Mark Davis, vice president of program management, said. “We all very much understand the importance of what we do. We have a very big impact.”
Legare said he hopes the film encourages HII employees “to take even more pride in what they do here as more of the world sees the tremendous challenges that they overcame, but also the ethical and moral mindset they had.”
In one of the film’s memorable moments, Oppenheimer muses: “I thought that if I could find a way to combine physics with New Mexico, my life would be perfect.”
That dream lives on today—in part due to HII’s work at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
“Our team is extremely proud to be part of furthering the Oppenheimer legacy every day,” Lempke said, “standing on the shoulders of giants to make our own contribution to national security and global stability.”
For more information about HII’s Nuclear and Environmental Services capabilities, visit: https://hii.com/what-we-do/capabilities/nuclear-environmental/.
Photo Captions: Kim Lebak, vice president of program management in Mission Technologies’ Nuclear and Environmental Services business group, sent these photos from Los Alamos. “I live in New Mexico,” she said. “I certainly wanted to watch ‘Oppenheimer’ because of the local significance.”
