Introduction

Why study the labs?

What were the labs?

The approach

I. THE FRAMEWORK

1. Origins

Manhattan Project

Postwar plans

Postwar realities

2. Individuality

Contractors

Laboratory organization

Manpower

3. Interdependence

Security

Organization of the AEC

The path of proposals

The Lab Directors' Club

II. THE ENVIRONMENT

4. Cold War Winter, 1947-1954

Drivers

Big equipment

Small science

5. False Spring, 1954-1962

Nationalism and internationalism

Boundary disputes

III. CONSEQUENCES

6. Adaptive Strategies

Specialization

Diversification

7. Exemplary Additions

Biomedicine, 1947-1954

Solid-state and materials science, 1954-1962

IV. EPILOGUE AND CONCLUSION

8. Epilogue, 1962-1974

The framework

The environment

The response

9. Conclusion: Strategy and Structure

The actors

The system: A new species

National labs and national goals

Appendix 1 Laboratory Operating Budgets, 1948-1966

Appendix 2 Laboratory Operating Budgets, 1973

Abbreviations

Notes

Index