The lab was founded in 1963, following pioneering research by E. J. Workman, the former president of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (then the New Mexico School of Mines), and others, including Nobel laureateIrving Langmuir, the namesake of the laboratory. The earlier studies took place on the Plains of San Agustin and the San Mateo Mountains.
Location
The laboratory is located just south of South Baldy, the highest peak of the Magdalena mountains, at the southern end of the main ridge crest of the range, at an elevation of 10,679 ft (3,255 m). The Magdalena Mountains offer favorable conditions for the study of storms because of their frequency during the summer. Local storms are also often isolated, stationary, and relatively small.
The lab occupies the Langmuir Research Site, a congressionally-designated area within the Cibola National Forest, and operates under a Special Use Permit from the US Forest Service.
