LOS ALAMOS, NM — A former top U.S. nuclear weapons research official at Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos National Laboratories has died from injuries sustained in a car crash in New Mexico, authorities said. He was 69.
Charles McMillan, an experimental physicist, served in various positions at Livermore in California for nearly 23 years and at Los Alamos for about 18 years, where he was director for six years before retiring in 2017.
He died in hospital after a two-vehicle accident Friday morning on a stretch of road called Main Hill, not far from the lab, police and the lab’s current director said.
“On behalf of the entire laboratory, I would like to extend my deepest condolences to the McMillan family and to the many current and former employees who worked closely with Charlie and knew him well,” laboratory Director Thom Mason said in a statement. reported by the Santa Fe New Mexican.
Michael Drake, president of the University of California system, gave a statement He called McMillan “an extraordinary leader, scientist and human being who made far-reaching contributions to science and technology in the service of national security and the greater good.”
The Livermore Laboratory, east of San Francisco, was founded in 1952 as a university spin-off and is now operated by the federal government. It maintains close ties to campuses and Drake’s office.
McMillan joined Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2006 after his friend and mentor, Michael Anastasio, became director. McMillan was the principal associate director for weapons programs before becoming director in 2011, the New Mexican reported.
He oversaw the lab through expansion and safety incidents, including a 2014 radiation leak at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southern New Mexico that was blamed on a waste drum that had not been properly packed at the lab. The National Nuclear Security Administration found in 2015 that the lab had violated health and safety rules and revoked more than $10 million in performance bonuses.
Mason pointed to McMillan’s work developing a vaccine for HIV and new models to better understand climate change.
Democratic U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico recognized McMillan for “invaluable contributions to our state, to science, and to our national security,” and cited his work in supercomputing and artificial intelligence.
Nella Domenici, Heinrich’s Republican challenger for the U.S. Senate, called McMillan’s death “a great loss to the scientific community and his family.”
Los Alamos police and fire officials said three people were treated for injuries and McMillan and a 22-year-old woman were taken to a hospital after the crash, which happened around 5 a.m. The cause is still under investigation.
