Louis Burkhardt

LOUIS C. BURKHARDT Long-time Los Alamos resident Louis C. Burkhardt passed away at his home last Thursday, August 19, 2010, surrounded by children and grandchildren, after battling leukemia for several months. Burkhardt initially was hired by Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in Group P-7 of the Physics Division. He worked the bulk of his 38-year career in the CTR (controlled thermonuclear reaction) Division of the Laboratory, working to slow down the nuclear reaction into a fusion power reactor. Burkhardt also is remembered for his vigilance and public citizenship for the City and County of Los Alamos and for the State of New Mexico. In the 1960s and '70s he played a visible role in political efforts to change laws to retain the Fourth Amendment rights of citizens (preventing warrant-less searches) in Los Alamos. In 1968 and '69, Burkhardt was one of the citizen-leaders of a successful state-wide campaign against a proposed revision to the New Mexico State Constitution. Burkhardt, son of Martha Ruth and Louis C. Burkhardt, was born August 4, 1925 in Denver, Colorado. He graduated from South Denver High School in June of 1943. He participated in the V-12 Office Training Program in 1944 at the University of Oklahoma and later served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Initially recruited by Fank Willig of Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in 1949, Burkhardt returned to his home in Denver to complete his Bachelor's degree in physics at the University of Denver in 1952. Burkhardt was a member of the American Physical Society, a life-long ham radio enthusiast (call signs W5YMA and N5LTP), and a founding member more than 30 years ago of Calvary Chapel church in Los Alamos. He is survived by his three children, Linda Grounds of Nardin, OK; Louis Burkhardt of Boulder, CO; and Sandy Ramlet of Denver, CO; along with eleven grandchildren. A visitation time with the family will be held Friday evening, August 27, from 5-7 p.m. at Fuller Lodge (main floor). A memorial service will be held Saturday, August 28 at 2:00 p.m. at Calvary Chapel on North Mesa, with visitation, again with the family, one hour before the service. A private burial was attended by the family. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in his name to Calvary Chapel or to the Cancer Research Institute www.cancerresearch.org/give/money.html (users can respond to a prompt to donate in someone's name).