LIVERMORE

city, Alameda county, western California, U.S. It is situated on the eastern edge of the Livermore-Amador Valley, 33 miles (53 km) southeast of Oakland. Located partly on the site of the Rancho Las Positas of Robert Livermore (d. 1858), it developed after the arrival of the Central Pacific Railroad (1869). It became a shipping-processing point for valley produce, including cattle, roses, and particularly (since the 1880s) dry white wines. The establishment in 1952 of the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory (renamed Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in 1971 and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1979) by the University of California spurred the city's technological growth (atomic ordnance, nuclear research, medicine). Del Valle Dam and Reservoir are nearby. Inc. town, 1876; city, 1900. Pop. (1992 est.) 58,850.