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Luis W. Alvarez

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Luis W. Alvarez

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    1. Luis W. Alvarez By: Amanda Lentz & Sarah Steldt

    2. Often referred to as the “wild idea man” of physics.

    3. Background Information Born on June 13, 1911 in San Francisco, CA. Family: Father: Dr. Walter C. Alvarez Mother: Harriet Skidmore Smyth Siblings: Brother (Robert) 2 Sisters (Gladys and Bernice)

    4. Childhood By age 10, he was not interested in biological work like his father. He was interested in wiring in electric circuits. In 1925, his father took a position at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, so the family relocated.

    5. Education He attended Rochester High School in MN and graduated in 1928. For two summers, he worked as an apprentice in the Mayo Clinic’s instrument shop.

    6. Education (continued) Entered the University of Chicago. Started with the intention of studying chemistry, but changed to physics. Because of his excellent grades in high school, he became a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi, science honor societies.

    7. Education (continued) 1932 – Earned a B.S. 1933 – Started flying lessons. 1934 – Earned M.S. and began flying for 50 years. 1936 Earned Ph.D. Married Geraldine Smithwick (but the two later divorced).

    8. Career Joined the University of California at Berkley’s Radiation Laboratory. 1937 – gave first experimental demonstration of the existence of the phenomenon of K-electron capture by nuclei.

    9. Career (continued) 1940 – 1943 – worked at MIT in the radiation laboratory He was responsible for 3 important radar systems: The microwave early warning system The Eagle high altitude bombing system Blind landing system

    10. Career (continued) 1943 - Began work on the Manhattan Project. Flew as an observer at both Alamogordo and Hiroshima. 1947 – Designed and constructed a 40-foot proton linear accelerator at Berkely. 1949-1959 – served as Associate Director of the Lawrence radiation laboratory (Served again from 1975-1978). 1958 – Married Janet L. Landis.

    11. Career (continued) 1951 – published first suggestion for charge exchange acceleration. 1960 Director of Hewlett-Packard Company. Board chairman of Optical Research and Development.

    12. Career (continued) 1979 – Along with his son Walter (a geology professor at Berkley), proposed the theory of a meteor causing dinosaur extinction. 1987 – Published Alvarez: Adventures of a Physicist. Died on September 1, 1988.

    13. Mentors/Influences Ernest Rutherford His father Walter Albert Einstein Don Gow Rowan Gathier Enrico Fermi Ernest Lawrence Arthur Compton Alfred Loomis

    14. Awards 1946 – Collier Trophy By the National Aeronautical Association For his radar based blind landing system Was first used during the Battle of Britain 1947 - Medal for Merit 1953 – John Scott Medaland Prize For his research work on high-energy physics 1960 – Named “California Scientist of the Year” 1961 – Einstein Medal For his contributions to the physical sciences 1963 – Pioneer Award of the AIEEE 1964 – National Medal of Science For contributions to high-energy physics 1965 – Michelson Award 1968 – Nobel Prize For the development and use of the liquid hydrogen bubble chamber to discover a number of short-lived resonance particles whose classification led to the quark description of matter. 1978 – National Inventors Hall of Fame 1981 – Dudley Wright Prize 1986 – elected into the World Level of the Hall of Fame for Engineering, Science and Technology

    15. Society Member of: National Academy of Sciences American Philosophical Society American Academy of Arts & Sciences National Academy of Engineering American Physical Society President in 1969

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