American Notes Science

Peter Hagelstein did not quite realize what he was getting into when, as a 20- year-old M.I.T. student, he began his association with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif. His dream was to advance biological and medical research by creating X-ray lasers. Instead, he found himself in what some have called a "bomb shop." In 1979 Hagelstein began working out the computer program that aided in the design of X-ray lasers -- the breakthrough that helped inspire Ronald Reagan to become the chief advocate for the Strategic Defense Initiative, or Star Wars.

Hagelstein, now 32, went on dreaming about devising an X-ray laser to be used in peaceful applications. Last week that dream prevailed. Livermore announced that Hagelstein was returning to M.I.T. as an associate professor. The young whiz offered no comment. But as Livermore Physicist George Chapline put it, Hagelstein's departure represents a "very significant loss."