Michael Anastasio (born 1948) led two national science laboratories during a time of transition. He was the director of the

Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, i ...

and president of the Los Alamos National Security LLC, the company that operates the laboratory. He is the former director of

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a federal research facility in Livermore, California, United States. The lab was originally established as the University of California Radiation Laboratory, Livermore Branch in 1952 in response ...

(LLNL). The

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appointed Michael R. Anastasio the director of LLNL on June 4, 2002. He started on July 1, 2002. In 2005 he became the president of the Los Alamos National Security LLC, and became the director of the

on June 1, 2006. During his directorship at Lawrence Livermore, the laboratory won 25 R&D 100 Awards and maintained its world-class leadership position in high-performance computing and its application to

global climate model A general circulation model (GCM) is a type of climate model. It employs a mathematical model of the general circulation of a planetary atmosphere or ocean. It uses the Navier–Stokes equations on a rotating sphere with thermodynamic terms f ...

ing. He has a

bachelor’s degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which rel ...

from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consiste ...

and earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in theoretical

nuclear physics Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter. Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies the ...

from the

State University of New York at Stony Brook Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system's ...

. His career at LLNL began in 1980 as a physicist in B-Division, one of the two

nuclear weapons A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

design divisions. He participated in the development of the W87,

W84 The W84 is an American thermonuclear warhead initially designed for use on the BGM-109G Gryphon Ground Launched Cruise Missile (GLCM). History The weapon was designed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory beginning in September 1978 for th ...

, and B83 warheads and 10

nuclear test Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine nuclear weapons' effectiveness, Nuclear weapon yield, yield, and explosive capability. Testing nuclear weapons offers practical information about how the weapons function, how detona ...

s; he was project physicist on four of these tests. In 1991, he was made B-division leader and program manager responsible for primary weapons design. From 1996 to 2001, he served as associate director for Defense and Nuclear Technologies, responsible for all activities in the laboratory’s nuclear weapons program. In that capacity, he was instrumental in the development and execution of the national Stockpile Stewardship Program. From 2001 to 2002, Anastasio served as LLNL’s deputy director for Strategic Operations. He has 18 publications in intermediate energy theoretical nuclear physics and 800 citations. He received the Department of Energy Weapons Recognition of Excellence Award in 1990 and is a member of

Sigma Pi Sigma Sigma Pi Sigma (), founded at Davidson College on December 11, 1921, is the oldest and only American honor society for physics and astronomy. It is an organization within the Society of Physics Students and the American Institute of Physics a ...

, the national physics honor society;

U.S. Strategic Command United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands in the United States Department of Defense. Headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, USSTRATCOM is responsible for strategic nuclear deterre ...

, Strategic Advisory Group; and the Defense Science Board Task Force on Nuclear Capabilities. He retired from his position as Laboratory Director at Los Alamos National Laboratory on June 1, 2011.Michael Anastasio to retire in June as Director of Los Alamos National Laboratory
/ref>

References

* "Michael R. Anastasio."

Marquis Who's Who Marquis Who's Who ( or ) is an American publisher of a number of directories containing short biographies. The books usually are entitled ''Who's Who in...'' followed by some subject, such as ''Who's Who in America'', ''Who's Who of American Wome ...

TM. Marquis Who's Who, 2009. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center.

Farmington Hills, Michigan Farmington Hills is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Part of the affluent suburbs northwest of Detroit, Farmington Hills is the second most-populated city in Oakland County, after Troy, with a population of 83,986 at th ...

Gale A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface winds moving at a speed of between 34 and 47 knots (, or ).Fairfax County Public Library The Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) is a public library system headquartered in Suite 324 of The Fairfax County Government Center in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Hennen's American Public Library Ratings ...

External links

Oral history interview of Michael R. Anastasio (18 June 2020)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anastasio, Michael 1948 births Los Alamos National Laboratory personnel 21st-century American physicists Stony Brook University alumni Living people Johns Hopkins University alumni American cellists Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory staff