From the Archives: David Hawkins and the Manhattan Project

David Hawkins, scientist, mathematician, philosopher, and educator, was the official historian of the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, New Mexico, which produced the first nuclear weapons during WWII.

Hawkins left Los Alamos in August 1946 and his history remained classified until 1961. A Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado from 1947 to 1982, Hawkin's passion for using education as a means to humanize society was fostered by the  destructive power he saw in nuclear weapons. According Hawkins, Los Alamos was an experience that changed the lives of everyone involved, radically and irreversibly, making many there, including himself, into nuclear pacifists.

The atomic bomb released roughly one million times the energy of exploding dynamite. This magnitude of change in the destructive power of nuclear weapons was almost beyond comprehension. This new reality crystallized Hawkins’ passion for educating the layman about science. David and Frances Hawkins became leaders in improving science education for elementary schools, and founded the Mountain View Center for Environmental Education at CU Boulder in 1970. The Mountain View Center programs were unscripted explorations of materials and surroundings offered to children in the community. These programs did not follow predetermined curricula or textbooks. For example, “The Pond Study,” of Varsity pond on the CU Boulder campus, found elementary-aged children exploring map-making, hydrodynamics, pond life, and many other subjects. By following aspects of the pond that interested them, the children investigated a breadth of areas that never could have been captured in one textbook or curriculum.

More about Hawkins' life and work can be found in the David Hawkins Archive Collection.

The University of Colorado Boulder Libraries will celebrate the centennial anniversary of the Archives on June 6, 2018. This is story #54 in our series: 100 Stories for 100 Years from the Archives!