Sandia began in 1945 as Z Division, the ordnance design, testing, and assembly arm of Los Alamos National Laboratory. It became Sandia Laboratory in 1948 and, on Oct. 5, 1949, Sandia Corp. was established as a Western Electric company to manage the laboratory.

A second site was opened in California’s Livermore Valley in 1956. In 1979, the U.S. Congress made Sandia a Department of Energy national laboratory. Sandia Corporation became a wholly owned subsidiary of Martin Marietta in 1993.