Luis Walter Alvarez: 1911-1988: Nuclear Physicist, Inventor, Educator Biography - Early Laboratory Experience, Inventor And Researcher, A Professor Once More, A Lifetime Of Useful Work

Luis Walter Alvarez: 1911-1988: Nuclear physicist, inventor, educator.

One of the most versatile scientists and inventors of the 20th century, Luis Walter Alvarez used his expertise to impact optics, flight, warfare, and the tracking and measurement of subatomic particles. During World War II, he joined the Manhattan Project to further the creation of the atomic bomb. Upon return to research and teaching, he created a bubble chamber for studying subatomic particles, a device that won him the 1968 Nobel Prize in physics. Always committed to problem-solving, Alvarez also investigated the construction of the Egyptian pyramid of Kefren and proposed a theory explaining the extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago from the collision of a meteorite or comet with Earth.