Los Alamos National Scientific Laboratory, a research center devoted to the applications of nuclear energy and to national defense, occupies a 199 sq km (77 sq mi) site in the Jemez Mountains in north central New Mexico. The laboratory, founded in 1943 as the Atomic Research Laboratory, is operated by the University of California and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. Scientists at Los Alamos developed the first atomic bomb and the first U.S. hydrogen bomb. The laboratory program has now extended to the peaceful uses of atomic energy and basic research in such fields as physics, biology, chemistry, geothermal energy, and medicine.