Former director of Los Alamos National Laboratory dead after car crash in New Mexico
![](https://ktvz.b-cdn.net/2023/03/osKcX94i-News-BG-NC21-logo-1200x675-1.jpg)
LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) — A former top official in U.S. nuclear weapons research at Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos national laboratories has died after an automobile crash in New Mexico. Charles McMillan was 69. He was an experimental physicist who spent nearly 23 years at Livermore in California and about 18 years at Los Alamos, where he was director for six years before retiring in 2017. Authorities say the crash happened early Friday on a stretch of road not far from the Los Alamos lab. University of California President Michael Drake called McMillan an extraordinary leader, scientist and human being who made far-reaching contributions to science, technology, national security and the greater good.