National Museum of Nuclear Science & History
Website 601 Eubank Blvd SE, Albuquerque, NM 87123, United States +1 505-245-2137
Located along Kirtland Air Force Base and both Albuquerque city limits, the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History is a national repository of nuclear science charted by the 102nd US Congress. The mission of this museum (formerly named the National Atomic Museum) is to be considered America’s resource for nuclear science and history. It displays educational programs and exhibits that convey the diversity of events and individuals shaping the atomic age’s technical and historical context.
This museum was established in 1969 as a learning place of the Atomic Age story, from early research of nuclear development through everyday peaceful uses of nuclear technology. Every visitor can explore the way nuclear sciences influence the world. The Nuclear Science & History Museum strives to present diverse nuclear applications in the past, present, and future through both permanent and changing displays and exhibits. This museum is a Smithsonian affiliate accredited through the American Alliance of Museums.
History
The creation of this museum in 1969 resulted from a six-year effort to establish a site to tell the Base and development of nuclear weapons story. This museum used to be located on Kirtland Air Force Base. The museum’s original name was National Atomic Museum to reflect the growing worldwide audience and the fact that it was the only US public museum in that preserved nuclear industry history. On September 11, 2001, the museum closed its door at the Kirtland Air Force Base due to heightened security measures at the Base. The museum was in Old Town, rented from May 2002 to February 2009; then, the museum was later renamed The National Museum of Nuclear Science & History and re-opened at its current location in southeast Albuquerque in 2009.
From its nine-acre outdoor exhibition area, which houses multiple historic aircraft, military vehicles, and missiles, to the indoor exhibits ranging from nuclear medicine and energy to WWII, this non-profit organization is a place to learn, imagine, and think about the different stories it presents: the Atomic Age, the Manhattan Project, the Cold War, to today’s peaceful use of nuclear technology.