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🏙️ A town 🔬 A research lab
Los Alamos

Los Alamos

5 5.9
A United States research lab in New Mexico and the scientists who work there
  • proper noun
  • /loʊs ˈæləˌmoʊs/
: Laboratorio Nacional de Los Álamos
  • During World War II, he headed the theoretical physics division at Los Alamos.
  • Los Alamos laboratory
  • Los Alamos National
  • Los Alamos physicists

We didn't have like lots and lots of places in the world that were the equivalent of Los Alamos.

Examples

  • Ali Meghdari worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

    Academic text (2002)

  • We called Los Alamos Labs, and they said they had never heard of him.

    Academic text (1992)

  • In 1976, he joined Los Alamos National Laboratory and quickly became group leader of mechanical engineering.

    Academic text (2005)

  • After his work directing the theory group at Los Alamos during the war, Hans returned to Cornell in 1945.

    Academic text (2005)

  • The Vela series of spacecraft was conceived and built at Los Alamos National Laboratory, birthplace of the atom bomb.

    Academic text (1996)

  • Gerard F. Jones joined the Solar Energy Group of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in 1981 as a staff member.

    Academic text (2004)

  • In January, stargazers and bomb-makers huddled at the Los Alamos laboratory, birthplace of the atomic bomb.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Dr. Jonas and his team at Los Alamos have altered the impedance timings of the spark gaps by a fraction of a nanosecond.

    Fair Game (2010)

  • Scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory are conducting important research on renewable energy.

  • The groundbreaking work on nuclear physics is often associated with the Los Alamos research team in New Mexico.

Surface Forms

Los Alamos main

Morphology

Los + Alamos

Los Alamos is a toponym whose constituents ('los' as a Spanish article and 'álamos' meaning poplars) do not transparently signal 'national laboratory' or 'scientists'; the reference to the laboratory is metonymic and culturally specific. Proper names and metonymic place-for-institution uses are arbitrary and require prior exposure, so a B1 learner who only knows the constituent words would not reliably derive this meaning.

Etymology

Los Alamos can also mean 'the laboratory' or 'its scientists' because the famous research lab was built in the town during the Manhattan Project, and people began to use the place name to mean the institution and the team who worked there.