One of the featured characters in the upcoming movie “Oppenheimer” is the Lab’s founder, Ernest Orlando Lawrence. Before J. Robert Oppenheimer was selected to lead the Manhattan Project, he spent his pre-war days in Berkeley with Lawrence and other physicists working out the mysteries of the atom. This month and through the Lab’s Founder’s Day on Aug. 26, Elements will share information about how Lawrence shaped the future of scientific discovery – in part by showing that scientists from different fields could work together to solve big, difficult problems, an approach that later became our national labs.

You can expect to learn more about Lawrence, his work, and his legacy at the Lab through a new video, a photo scavenger hunt, and even a Lawrence look-alike contest. A new webpage, to be introduced this month, as well as features in Elements and on social media, will provide behind-the-scenes details for you to learn more about the “L” in our acronym of LBNL.

Lawrence is portrayed by actor Josh Hartnett in the movie “Oppenheimer,” which is directed by award-winning filmmaker Christopher Nolan. The movie opens in theaters nationwide on July 21.