Mike May assumed the reins of a growing and changing Lab, with 5,600 employees and a budget of $122 million. May himself was an expert in the use of computers in physics, and expansion of the Lab’s computing facilities continued with the acquisition of the first CDC 7600 computers. Controlled (magnetic) fusion research progressed as the Baseball II superconducting magnet and 2XII-B experiment were built. Plowshare approached its zenith with the fielding of several joint government–industry experiments in gas stimulation. Although Plowshare was terminated in the early 1970s, it laid the foundation for the Lab’s programs in earth sciences as well as energy-related projects in oil shale retorting, underground coal gasification, and natural gas recovery. Weapons work was strong during these years, as the Lab designed warheads for the Posiedon, Spartan, and Minuteman missiles.
Groundwork was also laid for research in areas that would soon become major Lab programs—particularly energy, environmental science, and laser studies. Earlier work in lasers had been parceled out around the Lab, but in 1971 the laser program was established to consolidate this work. The program grew rapidly in the next ten years—only $2 million was budgeted for laser research in 1970, but by 1982 the laser program budget was more than $95 million. May resigned as director in late 1971, taking a year’s sabbatical before returning to Livermore in 1972 as associate director at large and then director emeritus.
Born on December 23, 1925 in Marseille, France, May received his B.A. in 1944 in physics/math from Whitman College in Washington. He served in the US Army from 1944–46, and then briefly attended the University of Washington in Seattle before moving to the University of California in Berkeley, where he received his Ph.D. in physics in 1952.
After receiving his degree, May joined the Laboratory as a staff member in 1952. He served as a group and division leader, and in 1962 became the associate director for nuclear design before serving as director from 1965–71.
After leaving Livermore, May was technical adviser to the Threshold Test Ban Treaty negotiating team and a member of the US delegation to the Strategic Arms Limitation talks. He was also, at various times, a member of the Defense Science Board, the General Advisory Committee to the Atomic Energy Commission, Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, the RAND Corporation Board of Trustees, and the Committee on International Security and Arms Control of the National Academy of Sciences. He has also served as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Pacific Council on International Policy, as well as co-director for Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation.
May has contributed to several books and has authored some 50 articles and reports. In 1970 the Atomic Energy Commission presented him with the Ernest O. Lawrence Memorial Award. In 1975 he received the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal and in 1979 the Distinguished Public Service Medal, both awarded by the Department of Defense. He is a fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society.
