This report discusses the two-stage light-gas gun which was developed by the Super-High-Altitude Research Project (SHARP) is a step toward realizing a launcher that can do this at a fraction of the cost of rockets. The SHARP gun is different from other two-stage designs because it is larger and its launch and pump tube are joined at right angles. This configuration allows the launch tube to point at any angle toward the sky while the pump tube remains horizontal. We have demonstrated that this gun can fire projectiles when the launch tube is in the horizontal position. Dr. Michael M. May who was the Laboratory`s fifth Director (1965--71) and is now a Director Emeritus. Under his directorship, the groundwork was laid for the Laboratory`s Energy Program, environmental science programs, and Laser Program. May remains active in research on arms control, nonproliferation, and cooperative security, and he is doing research and teaching at UC San Diego and at Stanford University. As part of the Laboratory`s 40th anniversary celebration, May was invited to lecture on his views of the changing world and the role of LLNL. In 1992, he participated in an influential National Academy of Sciences study on the reduction of …

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was established in 1952 to do research on nuclear weapons and magnetic fusion energy. Since then, we other major programs have been added including laser fusion, and laser isotope separation, biomedical and environmental science, strategic defense and applied energy technology. These programs, in turn, require research in basic scientific disciplines, including chemistry and materials science, computer science and technology, engineering and physics. In this issue, Herald Brown, the Laboratory`s third director and now counselor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, reminisces about his years at Livermore and comments about the Laboratory`s role in the future. Also an article on visualizing dynamic systems in three dimensions is presented. Researchers can use our interactive algorithms to translate massive quantities of numerical data into visual form and can assign the visual markers of their choice to represent three- dimensional phenomena in a two-dimensional setting, such as a monitor screen. Major work has been done in the visualization of climate modeling, but the algorithms can be used for visualizing virtually any phenomena.

For the 40-plus years of the Cold War, both the United States and the Soviet Union built up nuclear stockpiles of tens of thousands of weapons. Now, as the Cold War has ended and tensions between the superpowers have subsided, the US faces the task of significantly reducing its nuclear arsenal. Many thousands of nuclear weapons are being removed from the stockpile as a result of recent treaties and unilateral decisions. This issue of Energy and Technology Review describes the Laboratory`s role in the nation`s effort to dismantle these weapons safely and rapidly. The dismantlement of the United States` nuclear weapons takes place at the Department of Energy`s Pantex facility near Amarillo, Texas. The first article in this issue summarizes the Laboratory`s involvement in dismantling Livermore-designed nuclear weapons. LLNL (like Los Alamos) has responsibility for the weapons it designed, from design concept to retirement. In the past, the responsibilities ended when the weapon was retired from the stockpile. Now however, the role has been extended to include dismantlement. The second article reports on an incident that occurred in November 1992, in which the pit of a W48 warhead cracked during dismantlement. The Laboratory was called upon to handle the pit …