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That's false, the average age was 29.4: https://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Los-Alamos-age-statistics.jpg https://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com

by zasz 2y ago

That's false, the average age was 29.4: https://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Los-Alamos-age-statistics.jpg https://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/L... Here are the ages of the senior scientists: Oppenheimer: 38 Teller: 34 Lawrence: 41 Rabi: 44 Szilard: 44 Ulam: 33 Bethe: 36 Fuchs: 31 von Neumann: 39 So the younger people would have had plenty of supervision.

sberens 2y ago
These are not the only 6 engineers working for DOGE, just the youngest. They have supervision as well.
- UltraSane 2y ago
  They are all breaking the law.
  - sam345 2y ago
    Evidence? There is no evidence of that. Broad allegations that it is illegal doesn't cut it. Even Schumer is not making that claim. All he is doing is complaining. The executive branch has the power to police themselves it's not that difficult to understand that you can audit your own agency. There's nothing illegal going on.
    - sgarland 2y ago
      Schumer literally said what they’ve done to USAID is illegal. > …we know that unilaterally closing USAID is illegal. [0]: https://www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/leader-schumer-floor-remarks-condemning-doge-and-the-trump-administrations-illegal-seizure-of-usaid-putting-american-security-at-risk https://www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/lea...
      - prvc 2y ago
        Which law, specifically?
        sgarland 2y ago
        First, I was showing that the specific claim being made (that Chuck Schumer has not said any illegal activities have taken place) was false. Nothing more. Second, as I’m sure you know, and are being deliberately obtuse about, the separation of powers doctrine, which has been upheld by SCOTUS; one example [0] is Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer. USAID is codified by law, regardless of its genesis, and as such, only Congress is able to revoke the law. [0]: https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep343/usrep343579/usrep343579.pdf https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep...
        UltraSane 2y ago
        The actual US constitution which gives Congress and ONLY congress the power to spend tax money. Musk has absolutely no legal authority to unilaterally stop payments approved by congress. What Musk is doing is a very intentional effort to usurp this authority illegally. Musk should really end up in prison or deported for what he is doing right now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_of_the_purse#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_of_the_purse#United_Stat... In the federal government of the United States, the power of the purse is vested in the Congress as laid down in the Constitution of the United States, Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 (the Appropriations Clause) and Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 (the Taxing and Spending Clause). The power of the purse plays a critical role in the relationship of the United States Congress and the President of the United States, and has been the main historic tool by which Congress has limited executive power. https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/not-confident-trump-will-prevail-scholar-on-his-attempts-to-take-congress-power-of-the-purse-231043653639 https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/not-confident-trump-... Not confident Trump will prevail: Scholar on his attempts to take Congress' power of the purse Professor Deborah Pearlstein joins Morning Joe to discuss her column for the NYT outlining some of Trump’s actions implemented in his first few days in office and why she says Trump is hardly the first president to claim broad executive power, but the difference is not just the enormity of his claims, it's that the administration mostly doesn't try to craft legal justifications for its actions. https://www.marketplace.org/2025/02/04/congress-president-trump-spending/ https://www.marketplace.org/2025/02/04/congress-president-tr... How Congress — and not the president — controls how taxpayer money is spent https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/01/trump-executive-order-spending-congress/681484/ https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/01/trump-e... ‘It’s an Illegal Executive Order. And It’s Stealing.’
- roland35 2y ago
  How do we have any freaking clue what is going on with doge
- nxobject 2y ago
  By who, other than Elon Musk, in turn accountable to no one?
mitthrowaway2 2y ago
That's incredibly young for senior scientists! 31 years old? Nobody over 45, let alone 50?
- CSSer 2y ago
  I can’t speak to the second half of your comment, but it’s worth pointing out that 31 corresponds with a software engineer who received a BA/BS in four years after high school, started working and hit senior at 3-5 years (a lot of us). That gives a couple years of wiggle room to lead projects after that too.
- ideasarecool 2y ago
  TBH the 31 year old was Fuchs who spied for the SU. So not really the best pick.
- 52-6F-62 2y ago
  And they all regretted their short sighted work didn’t they?
- dekhn 2y ago
  many senior scientists are around 30-35 years old (by that time they have completed grad school and postdoc and are starting to get their first grants). And in nuclear physics most of these folks were young but had worked in key labs and their bosses were advisors on the project.
prvc 2y ago
Why did you choose to restrict your data to "senior" scientists? What is that supposed to prove?
- kamaal 2y ago
  A lot of progress in many fields largely moves in the direction of inertia. Pretty much always. That of course means drawing upon experience, work and ongoing contributions of people who are around for long. Obviously they would be old. Getting old is a part of life no? Unless of course some one is planning on dying early.
butlike 2y ago
'senior' is only a 6 character prefix that can be attached to any name/position as an accolade. It means nothing out-of-context. Oppenheimer was smart, no doubt, but did he have the life experience to warrant 'senior'-level decision making? I feel like the history books show it's emphatically indecisive.
- feoren 2y ago
  > Oppenheimer was smart, no doubt, but did he have the life experience to warrant 'senior'-level decision making? You're questioning whether the person chosen to be the director of weapons development could be called "senior" or not? What? Or are you hindsight-second-guessing the decision to make him director? It's wild to me that you would choose the director of one of the most important and ambitious (not to mention successful) programs in world history to make the point "senior is just a title".

by zasz 2y ago

sberens 2y ago

These are not the only 6 engineers working for DOGE, just the youngest. They have supervision as well.

UltraSane 2y ago
They are all breaking the law.
- sam345 2y ago
  Evidence? There is no evidence of that. Broad allegations that it is illegal doesn't cut it. Even Schumer is not making that claim. All he is doing is complaining. The executive branch has the power to police themselves it's not that difficult to understand that you can audit your own agency. There's nothing illegal going on.
  - sgarland 2y ago
    Schumer literally said what they’ve done to USAID is illegal. > …we know that unilaterally closing USAID is illegal. [0]: https://www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/leader-schumer-floor-remarks-condemning-doge-and-the-trump-administrations-illegal-seizure-of-usaid-putting-american-security-at-risk https://www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/lea...
    - prvc 2y ago
      Which law, specifically?
      - sgarland 2y ago
        First, I was showing that the specific claim being made (that Chuck Schumer has not said any illegal activities have taken place) was false. Nothing more. Second, as I’m sure you know, and are being deliberately obtuse about, the separation of powers doctrine, which has been upheld by SCOTUS; one example [0] is Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer. USAID is codified by law, regardless of its genesis, and as such, only Congress is able to revoke the law. [0]: https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep343/usrep343579/usrep343579.pdf https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep...
      - UltraSane 2y ago
        The actual US constitution which gives Congress and ONLY congress the power to spend tax money. Musk has absolutely no legal authority to unilaterally stop payments approved by congress. What Musk is doing is a very intentional effort to usurp this authority illegally. Musk should really end up in prison or deported for what he is doing right now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_of_the_purse#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_of_the_purse#United_Stat... In the federal government of the United States, the power of the purse is vested in the Congress as laid down in the Constitution of the United States, Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 (the Appropriations Clause) and Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 (the Taxing and Spending Clause). The power of the purse plays a critical role in the relationship of the United States Congress and the President of the United States, and has been the main historic tool by which Congress has limited executive power. https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/not-confident-trump-will-prevail-scholar-on-his-attempts-to-take-congress-power-of-the-purse-231043653639 https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/not-confident-trump-... Not confident Trump will prevail: Scholar on his attempts to take Congress' power of the purse Professor Deborah Pearlstein joins Morning Joe to discuss her column for the NYT outlining some of Trump’s actions implemented in his first few days in office and why she says Trump is hardly the first president to claim broad executive power, but the difference is not just the enormity of his claims, it's that the administration mostly doesn't try to craft legal justifications for its actions. https://www.marketplace.org/2025/02/04/congress-president-trump-spending/ https://www.marketplace.org/2025/02/04/congress-president-tr... How Congress — and not the president — controls how taxpayer money is spent https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/01/trump-executive-order-spending-congress/681484/ https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/01/trump-e... ‘It’s an Illegal Executive Order. And It’s Stealing.’
roland35 2y ago
How do we have any freaking clue what is going on with doge
nxobject 2y ago
By who, other than Elon Musk, in turn accountable to no one?

mitthrowaway2 2y ago

That's incredibly young for senior scientists! 31 years old? Nobody over 45, let alone 50?

CSSer 2y ago
I can’t speak to the second half of your comment, but it’s worth pointing out that 31 corresponds with a software engineer who received a BA/BS in four years after high school, started working and hit senior at 3-5 years (a lot of us). That gives a couple years of wiggle room to lead projects after that too.
ideasarecool 2y ago
TBH the 31 year old was Fuchs who spied for the SU. So not really the best pick.
52-6F-62 2y ago
And they all regretted their short sighted work didn’t they?
dekhn 2y ago
many senior scientists are around 30-35 years old (by that time they have completed grad school and postdoc and are starting to get their first grants). And in nuclear physics most of these folks were young but had worked in key labs and their bosses were advisors on the project.

prvc 2y ago

Why did you choose to restrict your data to "senior" scientists? What is that supposed to prove?

kamaal 2y ago
A lot of progress in many fields largely moves in the direction of inertia. Pretty much always. That of course means drawing upon experience, work and ongoing contributions of people who are around for long. Obviously they would be old. Getting old is a part of life no? Unless of course some one is planning on dying early.

butlike 2y ago

'senior' is only a 6 character prefix that can be attached to any name/position as an accolade. It means nothing out-of-context. Oppenheimer was smart, no doubt, but did he have the life experience to warrant 'senior'-level decision making? I feel like the history books show it's emphatically indecisive.

feoren 2y ago
> Oppenheimer was smart, no doubt, but did he have the life experience to warrant 'senior'-level decision making? You're questioning whether the person chosen to be the director of weapons development could be called "senior" or not? What? Or are you hindsight-second-guessing the decision to make him director? It's wild to me that you would choose the director of one of the most important and ambitious (not to mention successful) programs in world history to make the point "senior is just a title".