The Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP) at the University of California, Los Angeles was founded in 1946 to apply ideas and methods from the physical and life sciences to research and education in the geosciences, and to their applications. The IGPP was the founding branch of what is now a Research Unit established at the Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Irvine, and Santa Cruz campuses of the University of California, and at two of the national laboratories administered by the University of California, the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Former directors include Nobel Laureate Willard Libby. As of 2014, the IGPP actively operates three centers focused on areas of application: the Center for Planetary Science, the Center for Earth Systems Research, and the Space Physics Center.