Scientists in Synagogues Lecture Series

The Atomic Era: Past, Present, and Future
A 3-session series at Los Alamos Jewish Center
Mon, Aug 17, 7pm: Jewish Physicists and the Creation of the Atomic Era

Los Alamos Jewish Center is one of 11 Jewish congregations around the globe to be selected for a 2026-27 “Scientists in Synagogues” grant from the national nonprofit Sinai and Synapses. https://sinaiandsynapses.org Sinai and Synapses aims to explore big questions from both religious and scientific perspectives, providing tools and language to those who see science as their ally as they pursue personal growth and the repair of our world.


Selected organizations receive guidance, mentorship, and financial sponsorship to run three programs addressing issues around science and religion. This grant is enabling the Jewish Center to bring in three presenters from out of state to explore various aspects of atomic processes and their implications to annihilate humankind. The sessions—scheduled over the course of the year—are presented chronologically, starting with the pre-war understanding of fission. The second session will delve into the Nazi program to develop an atomic bomb during the Second World War; and the final talk will explore how close the world is to a nuclear global disaster.


The first Scientists in Synagogues program will take place Monday, August 17th, starting at 7pm at the Los Alamos Jewish Center, 2400 Canyon Road. Dr. Katharine Mullen, adjunct professor in the Department of Statistics and Data Science at the University of California, Los Angeles, will explore the motivations of a number of Jewish scientists whose work was pivotal in creating the atomic bomb.


Dr. Mullen’s talk is entitled “The Why Behind the Bomb: Jewish Physicists and the Creation of the Atomic Era.” Her article on Lise Meitner appeared in the Winter 2026 issue of the Jewish Review of Books, and she is currently writing a book about physics' place for the observer from the nineteenth century to today. Katharine Mullen is a computational physicist with a doctorate from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, who was formerly on the staff of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Dr. Mullen’s talk is free and open to the general community; please RSVP on the Jewish Center website: https://www.lajc.org/event-details/the-why-behind-the-bomb-jewish-physicists-and-the-creation-of-the-atomic-era


On Saturday, December 5th (the second night of Hanukkah), the Jewish Center will host the second in this series of talks with Miriam E. Hiebert, PhD, author of The Uranium Club: Unearthing the Lost Relics of the Nazi Nuclear Program. Dr. Hiebert’s graduate work in materials science and engineering sparked her interest in nuclear history. Dr. Hiebert is at the Smithsonian Institution.


The third talk, focusing on the Doomsday Clock (spring 2027 date to be determined), will be presented by physicist Daniel E. Holz of the University of Chicago. The Clock, created in 1947 by scientists from the Manhattan Project, alerts the world to existential threats, primarily those of human making such as the potential of nuclear devastation. Dr. Holz is Chair of the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which sets the hands of the Doomsday Clock.


Funding for Scientists in Synagogues projects comes from The John Templeton Foundation and other donors, and is run in consultation with the American Association for the Advancement of Science Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion. Other congregations selected for the 2026-2027 Scientists in Synagogues project are located in: Mendota Heights, Minnesota; Palo Alto, Pasadena, West Hollywood, Valley Village, and Venice in California; Austin, Texas; Jerusalem, Israel; and Framingham and Lexington in Massachusetts.


The Los Alamos Jewish Center (LAJC) is a community resource for Jewish worship, education, and life cycle events for Los Alamos and the surrounding area. The LAJC is a small, unaffiliated, egalitarian congregation that serves Jews from a variety of backgrounds and traditions. The friendly, vibrant community offers relaxed weekly Friday night and monthly Saturday morning services, led by lay leaders or by Rabbi Jack Shlachter. Congregants include singles, young married couples, households with school-age children, "empty-nesters," and retirees. Los Alamos Jewish Center welcomes visitors, LANL summer students, staff on temporary assignment, and LANL postdoctoral appointees. Services and events are open to all; no tickets/no-cost for High Holiday services. The Jewish Center is located at 2400 Canyon Road, just down the street from the PEEC Nature Center. For more information about the Los Alamos Jewish Center, go to www.lajc.org, call 505.662.2140 or email losalamosjewishcenter@lajc.org. Please RSVP for events on the Jewish Center’s website, www.lajc.org