A resolution to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Trinity Test, the culmination of the Manhattan Project, and to honor the people who made it possible.

Whereas the Trinity Test of July 16, 1945, in Alamogordo, New Mexico, the detonation of the first atomic device, demonstrated scientific and engineering capabilities applied to understanding the atom and for the first time the practical application of nuclear fission, changing mankind’s understanding of the universe;

Whereas the Manhattan Project, the project for the development of that device, involved the labors of 130,000 men and women over 28 months at a cost of more than $2,200,000,000, and was one of the largest single scientific and engineering endeavors in history;

Whereas the fruits of the Manhattan Project brought an early end to World War II and saved the lives of countless military and civilian personnel on all sides in that conflict;

Whereas the scientific accomplishments demonstrated by the Manhattan Project provided a new era of technological development resulting in clean energy sources, new medical technologies, supercomputers, and a host of new materials and processes;

Whereas the Manhattan Project was a model for collaboration between the Government, the private sector, and United States institutions of higher education, as well as scientists and engineers of all nationalities, who worked to preserve freedom;

Whereas the success of the Manhattan Project played a central role in the development of the modern research enterprise in the United States, including the establishment of the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health; and

Whereas, with the passage of time, it becomes more important to preserve the historic facilities used during the Manhattan Project, and to honor those remaining men and women who took part in it: Now, therefore, be it